1.
Sophie Gengembre Anderson
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Sophie Gengembre Anderson was a French-born British artist who specialised in genre painting of children and women, typically in rural settings. She began her career as a lithographer and painter of portraits and her work, Elaine, was the first public collection purchase of a woman artist. Her painting No Walk Today was purchased for more than £1 million, Sophie was born in Paris, the daughter of Charles Antoine Colomb Gengembre, a French architect and artist, and his English wife, whose maiden name was Hubert. They lived in Paris during the years of Sophies life, where her father was acquainted with artists, intellectuals. Circumstances required that the family leave Paris and live in an area in France from 1829 to 1843. At seventeen she developed an interest in art when a portrait painter visited her town. She had two brothers, Philip and Henry P. Gengembre and her brother Philip changed his name to Philip Hubert, using his mothers maiden name, and was a successful architect in New York City. She was largely self-taught in art, but briefly studied portraiture with Charles de Steuben in about 1843, soon after she began her studies, he left for Russia and did not return within the one year allotted for her studies. She did develop relationships with women artists at the school where she gained a little more instruction. The family left France for the United States to escape the 1848 revolution, first settling in Cincinnati, Ohio and her brother Henry P. Gengembre was also an artist, active in Cincinnati in the early 1850s. Her portrait, figure and Brittany landscape paintings were exhibited in October 1849 at the Western Art Union Gallery, four or more of her illustrations were included in the Historical Collections of the Great West by Henry Howe. She collaborated with Walter Anderson, her husband, on portraits of Protestant Episcopal bishops. She then lived in Manchester, Pennsylvania with her parents, where she is believed to have married Walter Anderson and she worked there for the chromolithographers Louis Prang & Company. In 1854 the Andersons moved to London, where Sophie exhibited a still life of fruit, vegetables, game and it was considered an admirable composition made with surprising truth. Her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy. They returned to Pennsylvania in 1858 for a visit with her family. The latter year she and her husband had work shown at the National Academy of Design and she then settled in London again around 1863. Andersons work was exhibited at venues including the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists
2.
Legendary creature
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A legendary creature is an animal or part human described in non-historical stories that sometimes involve the supernatural. In the classical era, monstrous creatures such as the Cyclops, other creatures, such as the unicorn, were claimed in accounts of natural history by various scholars of antiquity. Some legendary creatures have their origin in traditional mythology and were believed to be creatures, for example dragons, griffins. Others were based on real encounters, originating in garbled accounts of travelers tales, such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a variety of mythical animals appear in the art and stories of the Classical era. For example in the Odyssey, monstrous creatures include the Cyclops, Scylla, in other tales there appear the Medusa to be defeated by Perseus, the Minotaur to be destroyed by Theseus, and the Hydra to be killed by Heracles, while Aeneas battles with the harpies. These monsters thus have the function of emphasising the greatness of the heroes involved. Some classical era creatures, such as the centaur, chimaera, Triton, similarly, sphinxes appear as winged lions in Indian art. In Medieval art, animals, both real and mythical, played important roles and these included decorative forms as in Medieval jewellery, sometimes with their limbs intricately interlaced. Animal forms were used to add humour or majesty to objects, in Christian art, animals carried symbolic meanings, where for example the lamb symbolised Christ, a dove indicated the Holy Spirit, and the classical griffin represented a guardian of the dead. Medieval bestiaries included animals regardless of reality, the basilisk represented the devil. One function of animals in the Middle Ages was allegory. Unicorns, for example, were described as swift and unable to be caught by traditional methods. It was believed that the way for one to catch this beast was to lead a virgin to its dwelling. Then, the unicorn was supposed to leap into her lap and go to sleep, in terms of symbolism, the unicorn was a metaphor for Christ. Unicorns represented the idea of innocence and purity, in the King James Bible, Psalm 92,10 states, My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn. This is because the translators of the King James erroneously translated the Hebrew word reem as unicorn, later versions translate this as wild ox. The unicorn’s small size signifies the humility of Christ, another common legendary creature which served allegorical functions within the Middle Ages was the dragon. Dragons were identified with serpents, though their attributes were greatly intensified, the dragon was supposed to have been larger than all other animals
3.
Pixie
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Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. Akin to the Irish and Scottish Aos Sí, pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground ancestor sites such as circles, barrows, dolmens. Sometimes their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the temple ends and these, however, are Victorian era conventions and not part of the older mythology. In modern use, the term can be synonymous with fairies or sprites, however, in folklore there is a traditional enmity, even war, between the two races. The origin of the name pixie is uncertain, some have speculated that it comes from the Swedish dialectal pyske meaning wee little fairy. The term Pobel Vian is often used to refer to them collectively, in west Penwith, the area of late survival of the Cornish language, spriggans are distinguished from pixies by their malevolent nature. Closely associated with tin mining in Cornwall are the subterranean ancestral knockers, Pixie mythology is believed to pre-date Christian presence in Britain. In the Christian era they were said to be the souls of children who had died un-baptised. These children would change their appearance to pixies once their clothing was placed in clay pots used in their earthly lives as toys. By 1869 some were suggesting that the name pixie was a remnant of Pictic tribes who used to paint and tattoo their skin blue. This suggestion is still met in contemporary writing, but there is no proven connection, the earliest published version of The Three Little Pigs story is from Dartmoor in 1853 and has three little pixies in place of the pigs. Until the advent of modern fiction, pixie mythology was localised to Britain. Some have noted similarities to northern fairies, Germanic and Scandinavian elves, before the mid-19th century, pixies and fairies were taken seriously in much of Cornwall and Devon. Books devoted to the beliefs of the peasantry are filled with incidents of pixie manifestations. Some locales are named for the associated with them. In Devon, near Challacombe, a group of rocks are named for the said to dwell there. At Trevose Head in Cornwall 600 pixies were said to have gathered dancing and laughing in a circle that had appeared upon the turf until one of their number, named Omfra, in some areas belief in pixies and fairies as real beings persists. In the legends associated with Dartmoor, pixies are said to themselves as a bundle of rags to lure children into their play
4.
Sprite (entity)
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A sprite is a supernatural entity. They are often depicted as creatures or as an ethereal entity. The word sprite is derived from the Latin spiritus, via the French espirit Variations on the term include spright, the term is chiefly used in regard to elves and fairies in European folklore, and in modern English is rarely used in reference to spirits. Has been common in parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as neo-druidism. In some elemental magics, the sprite is often believed to be the elemental of air, a water sprite is a general term for an elemental spirit associated with water, according to alchemist Paracelsus. Water sprites are said to be able to water or air. They are mostly harmless unless threatened and these creatures exist in mythology of various groups. Ancient Greeks knew water nymphs in several such as naiads. Slavic mythology knows them as vilas, water sprites differ from corporeal beings, such as selkies and mermaids, as they are not purely physical and are more akin to local deities than animals
5.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
6.
Paranormal
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A paranormal phenomenon is different from hypothetical concepts such as dark matter and dark energy. Unlike paranormal phenomena, these concepts are based on empirical observations. The most notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to ghosts, extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects, psychic abilities or extrasensory perception, the term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts, para and normal, the definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para. On the classification of paranormal subjects, Terence Hines in his book Pseudoscience, what sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception, telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, the explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of psychic forces, human energy fields, and so on. This is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, in traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals, sometimes the term ghost is used synonymously with any spirit or demon, however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased persons spirit. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, as the 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body. Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread, the possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars. Projects such as SETI are conducting a search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well, the paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps, the first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves ufologists in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation, the second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal, many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements, both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method, acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture
7.
Afterlife
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The afterlife is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself, in which an essential part of an individuals identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death, in this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, in metaphysical models, theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions, tend to believe in an afterlife, the Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Reincarnation refers to a concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists. Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot and this succession leads toward an eventual liberation. One consequence of reincarnationist beliefs is that our current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife, according to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or Karma. In most denominations, heaven is a condition of reward for the righteous to go after they die, traditionally defined as eternal union with God. In contrast to heaven, hell is a condition of punishment and torment for the wicked, traditionally defined as eternal separation from God and confinement with other sinful souls and fallen angels. So they are seen as existing in a state of natural. In other Christian denominations it has described as an intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion. The notion of purgatory is associated particularly with the Catholic Church, the tradition of the church, by reference to certain texts of scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire although it is not always called purgatory. Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, traditional African religions are diverse in their beliefs in an afterlife. For each soul remains distinct and each represents a new soul. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist, the Mende believe that people die twice, once during the process of joining the secret society, and again during biological death after which they become ancestors. However, some Mende also believe that people are created by God they live ten consecutive lives. One cross-cultural theme is that the ancestors are part of the world of the living, interacting with it regularly, the afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its known as ka
8.
Angel
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An angel, especially according to Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, is a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. Most of them either as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits. They are studied in the doctrine of angelology. In Christian Science, the angel is used to refer to an inspiration from God. In fine art, angels are depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty, they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings, halos. The word angel in English is a blend of Old English engel, both derive from Late Latin angelus messenger, which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος ángelos. According to R. S. P. Beekes, ángelos itself may be an Oriental loan, the words earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro attested in Linear B syllabic script. The ángelos is the default Septuagints translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh denoting simply messenger without specifying its nature. In the Latin Vulgate, however, the meaning becomes bifurcated, if the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes, in Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel, called Fravashi and they patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest Gods energy. In the commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of angelic, according to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers. The Torah uses the terms מלאך אלהים, מלאך יהוה, בני אלהים and הקודשים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels, later texts use other terms, such as העליונים. The term מלאך is also used in books of the Tanakh. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a messenger or to a supernatural messenger. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9,21 and these angels are part of Daniels apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. One of these is hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in the Book of Job, philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God himself, but is conceived as Gods instrument, in post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles
9.
Astral projection
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The idea of astral travel is rooted in esotericism and occultism, and was promoted by 19th century Theosophists—philosophers who explored the mystical and preternatural origins of the natural world. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams, and forms of meditation, some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means. There is no evidence that there is a consciousness or soul which is separate from normal neural activity or that one can consciously leave the body. Claims of scientific evidence of astral projection are pseudoscientific and these astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons and spirits. The subtle bodies, and their planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm of the universe, the rational soul. is akin to the great Soul of the World while the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible. Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of circles or nested spheres. Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection, Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams—renowned experts in the field of astral projection—claim that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord. Scherman, however, contends that the points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine. Pauls Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the planes, I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago. This statement gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell, similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions. For example, ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the body via the ka. Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of a body by breathing meditations. With a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep, snoring and his primordial spirit, however, went straight into the banquet room and said, My lords, here I am again. With the officials to take a look, there really was a Taoist sleeping on the ground, yet inside, in the side room, there was another Taoist beating a fisher drum and singing Taoist songs. The officials all said, Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike, clearly he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once. At that moment, the Taoist in the room came walking out. Similar ideas such as the Linga Sari-ra are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki and he may then undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical body in sleep or wakefulness
10.
Aura (paranormal)
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In parapsychology and spiritual practice, an aura is an apparent field of subtle, luminous radiation that some people say surrounds a person or object. Halos or aureola are often depicted in art to connote a person of particular power or holiness. It is said that all objects and all living things manifest such an aura, often it is held to be perceptible, whether spontaneously or with practice, such perception is at times linked with the third eye of Indian spirituality. Various writers associate various personality traits with the colors of different layers of the aura and it has also been described as a map of the thoughts and feelings surrounding a person. Skeptics such as Robert Todd Carroll contend that people may perceive auras because of effects within the brain, synesthesia, epilepsy, migraines, other causes may include disorders within the visual system provoking optical effects. Eye fatigue can also produce an aura, sometimes referred to as eye burn, in Iran the aura is known as farr or glory, it is depicted in association with Zoroastrian kings. Ideas of the aura are represented in Indian religions. In tantric tradition of Hinduism, aura represents the body of seven colours. In many Hindu paintings of gods and goddesses, aura is marked on their backhead, the Buddhist flag represents the colours seen around the enlightened Buddha. In Jainism the concept of Lesya relates colours to mental and emotional dispositions, to the Indian teacher Meher Baba the aura is of seven colours, associated with the subtle body and its store of mental and emotional impressions. Spiritual practice gradually transforms this aura into a spiritual halo, Hindu and Buddhist sources often link these colours to Kundalini energy and the chakras. The symbolism of light found in the Bible is at times associated with the idea of the aura or body of light, according to the literature of Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and Archeosophy also, each colour of the aura has a meaning, indicating a precise emotional state. A complete description of the aura and its colours was provided by Charles Leadbeater, the works of Leadbeater were later developed by Palamidessi and others. The British occultist W. E. Butler connected auras with clairvoyance and etheric and he classified the aura into two main types, etheric and spiritual. Auras are thought to serve as a measure of the state of the health of the physical body. Robert Bruce classifies auras into three types, etheric, main, and spiritual, according to Bruce auras are not actual light but a translation of other unknown sensory readings that is added to our visual processing. They are not seen in darkness and cannot be seen unless some portion of the person or object emitting the aura can also be seen. Glenn Morris, grandmaster of the Hoshin Roshi Ryu lineage, included perception of the aura in his training of advanced martial artists and his experience was that it consisted of multiple layers
11.
Bilocation
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Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is an alleged psychic or miraculous ability wherein an individual or object is located in two distinct places at the same time. The concept has been used in a range of historical and philosophical systems, ranging from early Greek philosophy to modern religious stories, occultism. Several Christian saints, monks and Muslim sufis are said to have exhibited bilocation, among the earliest is the apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar in the year 40. St Isidore the Laborer claimed to be praying or attending to Mass in Church while at the same time plowing in the fields, in the 17th century, persons accused of witchcraft were reported to appear in dreams and visions of witnesses. The trials at Bury St. Edmunds and Salem included this spectral evidence against defendants, matthew Hopkins described the phenomenon in his book The Discovery of Witches. The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability, bilocation figures heavily in David Lynchs film Lost Highway and Thomas Pynchons novel Against the Day. A mystical story that involved Soviet author Yevgeny Petrov served as inspiration for the film Envelope starring Kevin Spacey, skeptical investigator Joe Nickell has written that there is no scientific evidence that bilocation is a real phenomenon and that cases are often from anecdotal reports that cannot be verified. Nickell listed self-delusion, hoaxing and illusion to explain alleged cases of bilocation, apparitional experience Doppelgänger Etiäinen Flying saints Kefitzat Haderech List of topics characterized as pseudoscience Remote viewing Tay al-Arz Vardøger
12.
Clairvoyance
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The term clairvoyance is the alleged ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said accordingly to be a clairvoyant. Claims for the existence of paranormal and psychic abilities such as clairvoyance have not been supported by scientific evidence published in high impact peer reviewed journals. Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of the paranormal is not accepted by the scientific community, Parapsychology, including the study of clairvoyance, is an example of pseudoscience. Pertaining to the ability of clear-sightedness, clairvoyance refers to the ability to see persons. Throughout history, there have been numerous places and times in which people have claimed themselves or others to be clairvoyant, jesus Christ in the gospels is also recorded as being able to know things that were far removed from His immediate human perception. In most of cases, however, the ability to see things was attributed to a higher power. In Jainism, clairvoyance is regarded as one of the five kinds of knowledge, the beings of hell and heaven are said to possess clairvoyance by birth. According to Jain text Sarvārthasiddhi, this kind of knowledge has been called avadhi as it ascertains matter in downward range or knows objects within limits. The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Franz Mesmer, early researchers of clairvoyance included William Gregory, Gustav Pagenstecher, and Rudolf Tischner. Clairvoyance experiments were reported in 1884 by Charles Richet, playing cards were enclosed in envelopes and a subject put under hypnosis attempted to identify them. The subject was reported to have successful in a series of 133 trials. Pickering reported an experiment in which they tested 36 subjects over 23,384 trials which did not obtain above chance scores. Ivor Lloyd Tuckett and Joseph McCabe analyzed early cases of clairvoyance, in 1919, the magician P. T. Selbit staged a séance at his own flat in Bloomsbury. The spiritualist Arthur Conan Doyle attended the séance and declared the clairvoyance manifestations to be genuine, a significant development in clairvoyance research came when J. B. Rhine, a parapsychologist at Duke University, introduced a methodology, with a standard statistical approach to analyzing data. A number of psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhines experiments with failure, W. S. Cox from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the man or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group
13.
Evocation
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Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with, the Latin word evocatio was the calling forth or summoning away of a citys tutelary deity. Evocatio was thus a kind of ritual dodge to mitigate looting of sacred objects or images from shrines that would otherwise be sacrilegious or impious, the calling forth of spirits was a relatively common practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric systems of antiquity. In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is frequently seen as the example of this idea. The grimoires provided a variety of methods of evocation, the spirits are, in many cases, commanded in the name of God - most commonly using cabalistic and Hellenic barbarous names added together to form long litanies. The magician used wands, staves, incense and fire, daggers and complex diagrams drawn on parchment or upon the ground. In Enochian magic, spirits are evoked into a ball or mirror, in which a human volunteer is expected to be able to see the spirit and hear its voice. Sometimes such a seer might be a medium, speaking as the spirit. In other cases the spirit might be housed in a symbolic image, the magician is thought to gain authority among the spirits only by purity, worship and personal devotion and study. In more recent usage, evocation refers to the out of lesser spirits. This sort of evocation is contrasted with invocation, in which powers are called into the self from a divine source. Important contributors to the concept of evocation include Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Francis Barrett, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley, Franz Bardon, the work of all of these authors can be seen as attempts to systematize and modernize the grimoiric procedure of evocation. Conjuration in traditional and most contemporary usage refers to an act of invoking spirits or using incantations or charms to cast magical spells. In the context of legerdemain, it may refer to the performance of illusion or magic tricks for show. This article discusses mainly the original and primary usage, describing acts of a supernatural or paranormal nature, the word conjuration can be interpreted in several different ways, as an invocation or evocation, as an exorcism, and as an act of producing effects by magical means. The word is used synonymously with terms such as invocation or evocation or summoning. The term conjuring is also used as a term for casting spells in some magical traditions. In that context, amulets and talismans are often kept in a bag and conjuring oils may be used to anoint candles and other magical supplies
14.
Deity
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A deity is a concept conceived in diverse ways in various cultures, typically as a natural or supernatural being considered divine or sacred. A male deity is a god, while a female deity is a goddess, the Oxford reference defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God, a plain deity need not be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or eternal, however an almighty monotheistic God generally does have these attributes. Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways – masculine, feminine, androgynous, some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions, deities have been envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living beings body, as sensory organs, but in Indian religions, all deities are also subject to death when their merit runs out. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité, the Latin deitatem or divine nature, deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European language origin to *deiwos. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, in Old Persian, daiva- means demon, evil god, while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones. The closely linked term god refers to supreme being, deity, which states Douglas Harper, is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan, from PIE *ghut-, guth in the Irish language means voice. The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo, Sanskrit huta-, from the root *gheu- An alternate etymology for the term god traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to-, the term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein to pour. Originally the German root was a noun, but the gender of the monotheistic God shifted to masculine under the influence of Christianity. In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities, the term deity often connotes the concept of sacred or divine, as a god or goddess, in a polytheistic religion. However, there is no accepted consensus concept of deity across religions and cultures. Huw Owen states that the deity or god or its equivalent in other languages has a bewildering range of meanings. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals, the Venus of Willendorf, a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted as an exemplar of a prehistoric divine feminine. In Buddhist mythology, devas are beings inhabiting certain happily placed worlds of Buddhist cosmology and these beings are mortal and numerous. It is also common for iṣṭadevatās to be called deities, although the nature of Yidams is distinct from what is meant by the term. Buddhism does not believe in a creator deity, however, deities are an essential part of Buddhist cosmology, rebirth and Saṃsāra doctrines
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Demon
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A demon is a supernatural, mythological and often malevolent being prevalent in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology and folklore. The original Greek word daimon does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον, the Ancient Greek word δαίμων daimōn denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin genius or numen. Daimōn most likely came from the Greek verb daiesthai, the Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. To distinguish the classical Greek concept from its later Christian interpretation, the Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact, εὐδαιμονία eudaimonia, means happiness, far into the Byzantine period Christians eyed their cities old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested, the term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament, the Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a demon derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity. The Hellenistic daemon eventually came to include many Semitic and Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity, the supposed existence of demons remains an important concept in many modern religions and occultist traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition, a demon is a metaphor for certain inner psychological processes. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, storm-demons and they were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces. From Chaldea, the term shedu traveled to the Israelites, the writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dialogism to Canaanite deities. There are indications that demons in popular Hebrew mythology were believed to come from the nether world, various diseases and ailments were ascribed to them, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares, there also existed a demon of blindness, Shabriri who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it. Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or seizing the victim, to cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons, the mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary gallu or edimmu of hideous strength. As referring to the existence or non-existence of shedim there are converse opinions in Judaism, there are practically nil roles assigned to demons in the Jewish Bible. In conclusion, Jews are not obligated to believe in the existence of shedim, the word shedim appears only in two places in the Tanakh
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Demonology
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Demonology is the study of demons or beliefs about demons, especially the methods used to summon and control them. The original sense of demon, from the time of Homer onward, was a benevolent being, the word demonology is from Greek δαίμων, daimōn, divinity, divine power, god, and -λογία, -logia. According to some societies, all the affairs of life are supposed to be under the control of spirits, each ruling a certain element or even object, and themselves in subjection to a greater spirit. For example, the Inuit are said to believe in spirits of the sea, earth and sky, the winds, every cove of the seashore, every point, every island and prominent rock has its guardian spirit. All are potentially of the malignant type, to be propitiated by an appeal to knowledge of the supernatural, traditional Korean belief posits countless demons inhabit the natural world, they fill household objects and are present in all locations. By the thousands they accompany travelers, seeking them out from their places in the elements, in ancient Babylon, demonology had an influence on even the most mundane elements of life, from petty annoyances to the emotions of love and hatred. The numerous demonic spirits were given charge over various parts of the body, one for the head, one for the neck. Many religions and cultures believe, or once believed, that what is now known as soothsaying, was, or is, the ascription of malevolence to the world of spirits is by no means universal. In Central Africa, the Mpongwe believe in spirits, just as do the Inuit. Demons are generally classified as spirits which are believed to enter into relations with the human race. As such the term includes, angels in the Judeo-Christian tradition that fell from grace, human souls regarded as genii or familiars, such as receive a cult, excluded are souls conceived as inhabiting another world. The incubi and Succubi of the Middle Ages are sometimes regarded as spiritual beings, belief in demons goes back many millennia. The Zoroastrian faith teaches that there are 3,333 Demons, some with specific dark responsibilities such as war, starvation, sickness, in Babylonian mythology, the seven evil deities were known as shedu, or storm-demons. It was from Chaldea that the name came to the Israelites. They also spoke of the destroyer as a Lord who will strike down the Egyptians, in II Samuel xxiv,16 and II Chronicles xxi.15 the pestilence-dealing angel, that is spirit, called the destroying angel. The followers of Mara were also called mara, the devils, the mara became fully assimilated into the Chinese worldview, and were called mo. D. Demonic forces had attained power in the world. Medieval Chinese Buddhist demonology was heavily influenced by Indian Buddhism, in his autobiography, The Blazing Splendor, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist master of the 20th century describes encounters with such beings
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Devil
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The Devil is, according to Christianity, the primary opponent of God. Islam identifies the Devil with all those who oppose Allah, some non-Abrahamic religions contain figures similar to the Devil, such as the Buddhist demon Mara and the Zoroastrian spirit Angra Mainyu. The Modern English word devil descends from the Middle English devel, from Old English dēofol, that in turn represents an early Germanic borrowing of Latin diabolus. This in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek Greek, διάβολος, slanderer, from Greek, διαβάλλειν to slander, διά- across, through + βάλλειν to hurl, probably akin to the Sanskrit gurate he lifts up. In the New Testament, Satan occurs more than 30 times in passages alongside diábolos, in mainstream Judaism there is no concept of a devil as in mainstream Christianity or Islam. Texts make no direct link between the serpent that tempts Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis and the references to Satan are in Zechariah. For the Hasidim of the century, ha-satan was Baal Davar. In the Book of Wisdom, the devil is represented as the one who brought death into the world, a similar story is found in 1 Enoch, however, in that book, the leader of the Grigori is called Semjâzâ. In the apocryphal literature, Satan rules over a host of angels, mastema, who induced God to test Abraham through the sacrifice of Isaac, is identical with Satan in both name and nature. The Book of Enoch contains references to Sathariel, thought also to be Sataniel and Satanel, the similar spellings mirror that of his angelic brethren Michael, Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, previous to his expulsion from Heaven. In mainstream Christianity the devil is usually referred to as Satan, some modern Christians consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described as hating all humanity, opposing God, spreading lies, other modern Christians consider the devil in the Bible to refer figuratively to human sin and temptation and to any immoral human system. Satan is often identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the fruit, thus. He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation, beelzebub is originally the name of a Philistine god but is also used in the New Testament as a synonym for Satan. A corrupted version, Belzeboub, appears in The Divine Comedy, in Islam the Devil is referred to as Iblis or sometimes the Shaytan. Etymologically, Iblis means the desperate in Arabic, thus, the name Iblis can be seen as a sobriquet given to Shaitan after falling from Grace. The primary characteristic of the Devil, besides hubris, is that he has no other than the power to cast evil suggestions into the hearts of men and women. He was of the jinn and departed from the command of his Lord, then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you
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Ectoplasm (paranormal)
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Ectoplasm is a term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy exteriorized by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of spirits, ectoplasm is considered to be a hoax, made from cheesecloth, gauze or other natural substances. Ectoplasm is said to be formed by physical mediums when in a trance state, some accounts claim that ectoplasm begins clear and almost invisible, but darkens and becomes visible, as the psychic energy becomes stronger. Still other accounts state that in extreme cases ectoplasm will develop a strong odor, according to some mediums, the ectoplasm can not occur in light conditions as the ectoplasmic substance would disintegrate. Arthur Conan Doyle described ectoplasm as “a viscous, gelatinous substance which appeared to differ from every form of matter in that it could solidify. Although the term is widespread in popular culture, the existence of ectoplasm is not accepted by science. Some tested samples purported to be ectoplasm have been found to be various non-paranormal substances, other researchers have duplicated, with non-supernatural materials, the photographic effects sometimes said to prove the existence of ectoplasm. The idea of ectoplasm was merged into the notion of a force by some early psychical researchers who were seeking a physical explanation for reports of psychokinesis in séances. Its existence was hypothesized by Count Agenor de Gasparin, to explain the phenomena of table turning and tapping during séances. Ectenic force was named by de Gasparins colleague M. Thury, between them, de Gasparin and Thury conducted a number of experiments in ectenic force, and claimed some success. Their work was not independently verified and this view was held by Camille Flammarion and William Crookes, however a later psychical researcher Hereward Carrington pointed out that the fluid was hypothetical and has never been discovered. The psychical investigator W. J. Crawford had claimed that a substance was responsible for levitation of objects after witnessing the medium Kathleen Goligher. Crawford, after witnessing a number of her séances, claimed to have obtained flashlight photographs of the substance and he claimed the substance is not visible to the naked eye but can be felt by the body. DAlbe claimed the substance in the photographs of Crawford was ordinary muslin, during a séance DAlbe had observed white muslin between Golighers feet. Ectoplasm on many occasions has proven to be fraudulent. The Society for Psychical Research investigations into mediumship exposed many fraudulent mediums which contributed to the decline of interest in physical mediumship, Schrenck-Notzing published the book Phenomena of Materialisation which included photographs of the ectoplasm. Critics pointed out the photographs of the ectoplasm revealed marks of magazine cut-outs, pins, Schrenck-Notzing admitted that on several occasions Carrière deceptively smuggled pins into the séance room. The magician Carlos María de Heredia replicated the ectoplasm of Carrière using a comb, gauze, donald West wrote that the ectoplasm of Carrière was fake and was made of cut-out paper faces from newspapers and magazines on which fold marks could sometimes be seen from the photographs
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Electronic voice phenomenon
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Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. Enthusiasts consider EVP to be a form of paranormal phenomenon often found in recordings with static or other background noise, however, psychologists regard EVP as a form of auditory pareidolia and a pseudoscience promulgated by popular culture. Rational explanations for EVP include apophenia, equipment artifacts, and hoaxes, so popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits. However, there is no indication that Edison ever designed or constructed a device for such a purpose, as sound recording became widespread, mediums explored using this technology to demonstrate communication with the dead as well. Spiritualism declined in the part of the 20th century, but attempts to use portable recording devices. American photographer Attila von Szalay was among the first to try recording what he believed to be voices of the dead as a way to augment his investigations in photographing ghosts. He began his attempts in 1941 using a 78 rpm record, but it wasnt until 1956, after switching to a tape recorder. Szalay reported finding many sounds on the tape that could not be heard on the speaker at the time of recording and he believed these sounds to be the voices of discarnate spirits. Among the first recordings believed to be spirit voices were such messages as This is G, hot dog, Art. and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Von Szalay and Raymond Bayless work was published by the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1959, Bayless later went on to co-author the 1979 book, Phone Calls From the Dead. In 1959, Swedish painter and film producer Friedrich Jürgenson was recording bird songs, upon playing the tape later, he heard what he interpreted to be his dead fathers voice and then the spirit of his deceased wife calling his name. He went on to several more recordings, including one that he said contained a message from his late mother. Some of these recordings were conducted in an RF-screened laboratory and contained words Raudive said were identifiable, in an attempt to confirm the content of his collection of recordings, Raudive invited listeners to hear and interpret them. In 1980, William ONeil constructed an electronic device called The Spiricom. ONeil claimed the device was built to specifications which he received psychically from George Mueller, however, nobody is known to have replicated the results ONeil claimed using their own Spiricom devices. Sumption claims he received his instructions from the spirit world. The device is described as a white noise generator and AM radio receiver modified to sweep back. ITC enthusiasts also look at the TV and video camera feedback loop of the Droste effect, in 1979, parapsychologist D. Rosemary Guiley has written within the parapsychology establishment, Rogo was often faulted for poor scholarship, which, critics said, led to erroneous conclusions
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Exorcism
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Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of purportedly evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed. The practice is ancient and part of the system of many cultures. There was “a 50% increase in the number of exorcisms performed between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s”, in Christianity, exorcism is the practice of casting out demons. In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the Christian Church, the exorcist may use prayers and religious material, such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. The exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism, a survey of Christian exorcists found that most exorcists believe that any mature Christian can perform an exorcism, not just members of clergy. Christian exorcists most commonly believe the authority given to them by the Father, Son, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as more of a cure than a punishment. The mainstream rituals usually take this account, making sure that there is no violence to the possessed. In Catholic Christianity, exorcisms are performed in the name of Jesus Christ. A distinction is made between a formal exorcism, which can only be conducted by a priest during a baptism or with the permission of a Bishop, the Catholic rite for a formal exorcism, called a Major Exorcism, is given in Section 11 of the Rituale Romanum. The Ritual lists guidelines for conducting an exorcism, and for determining when a formal exorcism is required, priests are instructed to carefully determine that the nature of the affliction is not actually a psychological or physical illness before proceeding. In Catholic practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is an ordained priest, the exorcist recites prayers according to the rubrics of the rite, and may make use of religious materials such as icons and sacramentals. The exorcist invokes God—specifically the Name of Jesus—as well as members of the Church Triumphant, according to Catholic understanding, several weekly exorcisms over many years are sometimes required to expel a deeply entrenched demon. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, therefore, practitioners regard exorcism as a cure and not some kind of punishment. Beliefs and practices pertaining to the practice of exorcism are prominently connected with Hindus, of the four Vedas, the Atharva Veda is said to contain the secrets related to exorcism, magic and alchemy. The basic means of exorcism are the mantra and the used in both Vedic and Tantric traditions. Vaishnava traditions also employ a recitation of names of Narasimha and reading scriptures and it is also believed that, praying to Lord Hanuman, gives the best result. It is also mentioned in the Hanuman Chalisa and it is believed that just uttering the name of Lord Hanuman makes the evil forces and devils tremble, in fear. The main puranic resource on ghost and death-related information is Garuda Purana, a complete description of birth and death and also about the human soul are explained in Katō Upanishad, a part of Yajur Veda
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Extrasensory perception
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Extrasensory perception, ESP or Esper, also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B, Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as intuition, telepathy, psychometry, clairaudience, and clairvoyance, and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. Parapsychology is the study of psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research, in the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine conducted investigation into extrasensory perception, while Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and psi, a simple set of cards was developed, originally called Zener cards – now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy lines, cross, in a telepathy experiment, the sender looks at a series of cards while the receiver guesses the symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while the receiver guesses, to try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined after the guesses are made. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis, the parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked criticism from academics and others who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. A number of psychological departments attempted to repeat Rhines experiments with failure, W. S. Cox from Princeton University with 132 subjects produced 25,064 trials in a playing card ESP experiment. Cox concluded There is no evidence of extrasensory perception either in the man or of the group investigated or in any particular individual of that group. The discrepancy between these results and those obtained by Rhine is due either to uncontrollable factors in experimental procedure or to the difference in the subjects, four other psychological departments failed to replicate Rhines results. This called for experimental procedures that were not limited to Rhines favored forced-choice methodology, such procedures have included dream telepathy experiments, and the ganzfeld experiments. The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a real phenomenon, There are many criticisms pertaining to experiments involving Extrasensory Perception, particularly surrounding methodological flaws. These flaws are not unique to an experimental design, and are effective in discrediting much of the positive research surrounding ESP. Many of the flaws seen in the Zener card experiment are present in the Ganzfeld experiment as well, first is the stacking effect, an error that occurs in ESP research. Trial-by-trial feedback given in using a “closed” ESP target sequence violates the condition of independence used for most standard statistical tests. Multiple responses for a single target cannot be evaluated using statistical tests that assume independence of responses and this increases likelihood of card counting and in turn, increases the chances for the subject to guess correctly without using ESP
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Charles Fort
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Charles Hoy Fort was an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. The terms Fortean and Forteana are sometimes used to various such phenomena. Forts books sold well and are still in print and his work continues to inspire admirers, who refer to themselves as Forteans, and has influenced some aspects of science fiction. Forts collections of scientific anomalies including The Book of the Damned influenced numerous science fiction writers with their iconoclastic skepticism, Fortean phenomena are events which seem to challenge the boundaries of accepted scientific knowledge, and the Fortean Times investigates such phenomena. Fort was born in Albany, New York in 1874, of Dutch ancestry and his father, a grocer, was an authoritarian and, in his unpublished autobiography Many Parts, Fort mentions the physical abuse he endured from his father. Forts biographer, Damon Knight, suggested that his distrust of authority began in his treatment as a child, Fort developed a strong sense of independence during his early years. As a young adult, Fort wanted to be a naturalist, collecting sea shells, minerals, although Fort was described as curious and intelligent, he was not a good student. An autodidact, his knowledge of the world was due mainly to his extensive personal reading. At age 18, Fort left New York to embark on a tour to put some capital in the bank of experience. He travelled through the western United States, Scotland, and England, when he returned home, he was nursed by Anna Filing, whom he had known since childhood. They were married on October 26,1896, Anna, four years older than Fort, was non-literary, a lover of movies and of parakeets. His success as a story writer was intermittent between periods of poverty and melancholia. His uncle died during 1916, and a modest inheritance gave Fort enough money to quit his various day jobs, in 1917, Forts brother Clarence died, his portion of the same inheritance was divided between Fort and Raymond. Fort wrote ten novels, although one, The Outcast Manufacturers. Reviews were mostly positive, but it was unsuccessful commercially and these books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser, who attempted to get them published, but to no avail. The title referred to damned data that Fort collected, phenomena for which science could not account, Fort and Anna lived in London from 1924 to 1926, having relocated there so Fort could peruse the files of the British Museum. Although born in Albany, Fort lived most of his life in the Bronx, Fort frequented the parks near the Bronx, where he would sift through piles of his clippings. Fort also had literary friends who would gather on occasion at various apartments, including his own, to drink
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Ghost
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In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living. Descriptions of ghosts vary widely from a presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a person is known as necromancy. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead is widespread, certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead. Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and they are believed to haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life. Ghosts exist as a concept only, despite centuries of investigation, the English word ghost continues Old English gást, from a hypothetical Common Germanic *gaistaz. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North Germanic, the pre-Germanic form was *ghoisdo-s, apparently from a root denoting fury, anger reflected in Old Norse geisa to rage. The Germanic word is recorded as only, but likely continues a neuter s-stem. The original meaning of the Germanic word would thus have been a principle of the mind, in particular capable of excitation. In Germanic paganism, Germanic Mercury, and the later Odin, was at the time the conductor of the dead. It could also denote any good or evil spirit, such as angels and demons, also from the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God, viz. the Holy Ghost. The now-prevailing sense of the soul of a person, spoken of as appearing in a visible form only emerges in Middle English. The synonym spook is a Dutch loanword, akin to Low German spôk, alternative words in modern usage include spectre, the Scottish wraith, phantom and apparition. The term shade in classical mythology translates Greek σκιά, or Latin umbra, haint is a synonym for ghost used in regional English of the southern United States, and the haint tale is a common feature of southern oral and literary tradition. The term poltergeist is a German word, literally a noisy ghost, wraith is a Scots word for ghost, spectre, or apparition. It appeared in Scottish Romanticist literature, and acquired the general or figurative sense of portent or omen. In 18th- to 19th-century Scottish literature, it applied to aquatic spirits. The word has no commonly accepted etymology, the OED notes of obscure origin only, an association with the verb writhe was the etymology favored by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Ghost hunting
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Ghost hunting is a fringe pseudoscience wherein its adherents visit and investigate locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to evidence that they see as supportive of paranormal activity. Traditional techniques such as conducting interviews and researching the history of a site are also employed, some ghost hunters refer to themselves as a paranormal investigator. Ghost hunting has been criticized for its total absence of scientific method. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by a vast majority of educators, academics, science writers, in contrast, the concept of the ghost and narratives featuring ghosts are a topic of academic study in folkloristics. Paranormal research dates back to the 19th century, with such as the Society for Psychical Research investigating spiritual matters. Psychic researcher Harry Price published his Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter in 1936, Ghost hunting was popularised in the 2000s by television series such as Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters, combined with the increasing availability of high-tech equipment. The Atlantic Paranormal Society reported a doubling in their membership in the late 2000s, despite its lack of acceptance in academic circles, the popularity of ghost-hunting reality TV shows has influenced a number of individuals to take up the pursuit. Small businesses offering ghost-hunting equipment and paranormal investigation services increased in the early 2000s, many offer electromagnetic field meters, infrared motion sensors and devices billed as ghost detectors. One ghost-hunting group reports that the number of people taking its tours has tripled, another says its membership has doubled. Others point to increased traffic on their websites and message boards as an indication that ghost hunting is becoming more accepted, participants say that ghost hunting allows them to enjoy the friendship of like-minded people and actively pursue their interest in the paranormal. James Willis, founder of The Ghosts of Ohio group, says that his membership has grown to 30 members since it was founded in 1999 and includes both true believers and total skeptics. Willis says his group is looking for answers, one way or another, potts writes that modern ghost hunting groups ignore the scientific method and instead follow a form of techno-mysticism. The popularity of ghost hunting has led to some injuries, unaware that a spooky home in Worthington, Ohio was occupied, a group of teenagers stepped on the edge of the property to explore. The homeowner fired on the automobile as they were leaving. A woman hunting for ghosts was killed in a fall from a University of Toronto building, an offshoot of ghost hunting is the commercial ghost tour conducted by a local guide or tour operator who is often a member of a local ghost-hunting or paranormal investigation group. The city of Savannah, Georgia is said to be the American city with the most ghost tours, according to a survey conducted in October 2008 by the Associated Press and Ipsos,34 percent of Americans say they believe in the existence of ghosts. Moreover, a Gallup poll conducted on June 6–8,2005 showed that one-third of Americans believe that ghosts exist, in 2002, the National Science Foundation identified haunted houses, ghosts, and communication with the dead among pseudoscientific beliefs
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Ghost story
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A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters belief in them. The ghost may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic, linked to the ghost is the idea of hauntings, where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. Colloquially, the term ghost story can refer to any kind of scary story, in a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of fiction and specifically of weird fiction. While ghost stories are often meant to be scary, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as sentinels or prophets of things to come, belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form. A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, belief in ghosts is found in all cultures around the world, and thus ghost stories may be passed down orally or in written form. The campfire story, a form of storytelling, often involves recounting ghost stories. Some of the stories are old, with varying versions across multiple cultures. Many schools and educational institutions encourage ghost storytelling as part of literature, in 1929, five key features of the English ghost story were identified in Some Remarks on Ghost Stories by M. R. James. The play Mostellaria, by the Roman playwright Plautus, is the earliest known work to feature a haunted dwelling, another early account of a haunted place comes from an account by Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes the haunting of a house in Athens by a ghost bound in chains, ghosts often appeared in the tragedies of the Roman writer Seneca, who would later influence the revival of tragedy on the Renaissance stage, particularly Thomas Kyd and Shakespeare. The One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as Arabian Nights, contains a number of ghost stories, often involving jinn, ghouls, in particular, the tale of Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad revolves around a house haunted by jinns. Other medieval Arabic literature, such as the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, the 11th century Japanese work The Tale of Genji contains ghost stories, and includes characters being possessed by spirits. In the mid-16th century, the works of Seneca were rediscovered by Italian humanists, senecas influence is particularly evident in Thomas Kyds The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeares Hamlet, both of which share a revenge theme, a corpse-strewn climax, and ghosts among the cast. The ghosts in Richard III also resemble the Senecan model, while the ghost in Hamlet plays a complex role. The shade of Hamlets murdered father in Hamlet has become one of the more recognizable ghosts in English literature, in another of Shakespeare’s works, Macbeth, the murdered Banquo returns as a ghost to the dismay of the title character. In English Renaissance theatre, ghosts were often depicted in the garb of the living, armour, being out-of-date by the time of the Renaissance, gave the stage ghost a sense of antiquity
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God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
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Haunted house
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Ghosthouse is a 1988 Italian-American horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi and produced by exploitation film auteur Joe DAmato. It co-starred Lara Wendel and Donald OBrien and its plot focuses on a deserted house where the visions of a ghostly girl and her haunted doll wreak havoc on those who enter it. The film is the unofficial Italian sequel to Evil Dead II, in the United States, La Casa 3 was released as Ghosthouse, with director Lenzi being credited under the alias Humphrey Humbert. A group of unlikely companions receive a radio call leading to a house with a grisly past. After exploring the house, the group makes the decision to split up, leading to a trail of death. Along the way expect severed heads, exploding light bulbs, demonic clown dolls, moon as Pepe Susan Muller as Mrs. Baker Alain Smith as Samuel Baker William J. Devany as Lieutenant Ralph Morse as Coroner Robert Champagne as Mortician Hernest Mc. Kimnoro as Cemetery Custodian Ghosthouse was shot on location in Boston and Cohasset, the house featured in the film is the same house used in Lucio Fulcis The House by the Cemetery. The film was released theatrically in Italy in August 1988, and this film has been released twice on Region 2 DVD in the UK as Ghosthouse, once by Vipco in 2004 with no cuts, the second by Cornerstone Media in 2009. In January 2012 the film was released as a download and VOD with humorous commentary by RiffTrax and this was released to DVD in November 2013 along with the un-riffed version of the film. The film has also seen DVD releases in Germany and Italy. The film was released for the first time in North America on Blu-ray in June 2015 as a double feature, La Casa series - An Italian rebranding of several otherwise unrelated horror films, including Ghosthouse. Ghosthouse at the Internet Movie Database Comparison of DVD releases
28.
Hypnosis
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Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. The term may refer to an art, skill, or act of inducing hypnosis. Theories explaining what occurs during hypnosis fall into two groups, altered state theories see hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary conscious state. In contrast, nonstate theories see hypnosis as a form of imaginative role enactment, during hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and concentration. The person can concentrate intensely on a thought or memory. Hypnotised subjects are said to show a response to suggestions. Hypnosis is usually induced by a known as a hypnotic induction involving a series of preliminary instructions. The use of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes is referred to as hypnotherapy, stage hypnosis is often performed by mentalists practicing the art form of mentalism. The term hypnosis comes from the ancient Greek word ὕπνος hypnos, sleep, and the suffix -ωσις -osis, or from ὑπνόω hypnoō, put to sleep and the suffix -is. The words hypnosis and hypnotism both derive from the term neuro-hypnotism, all of which were coined by Étienne Félix dHenin de Cuvillers in 1820 and these words were popularized in English by the Scottish surgeon James Braid around 1841. Braid based his practice on that developed by Franz Mesmer and his followers, a person in a state of hypnosis is relaxed, has focused attention, and has increased suggestibility. It could be said that suggestion is explicitly intended to make use of the placebo effect. For example, in 1994, Irving Kirsch characterised hypnosis as a placebo, i. e. a method that openly makes use of suggestion. Have defined hypnosis in terms of dissociation, Social psychologists Sarbin and Coe. have described hypnosis in terms of role theory. Hypnosis is a role that play, they act as if they were hypnotised. Defined hypnosis in terms of behavioural parameters, such as task motivation. Conceptualised hypnosis as a state of enhanced suggestibility and he has defined hypnotism as a form of influence by one person exerted on another through the medium or agency of suggestion. Described hypnosis by using the concept of regression in the service of the ego
29.
Magic (paranormal)
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Magic or sorcery is the use of rituals, symbols, actions, gestures, and language with the aim of exploiting supernatural forces. The term magic has a variety of meanings, and there is no agreed upon definition of what it is or how it can be used. Religious scholars have defined magic in many different ways, one approach, associated with the anthropologists Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer, has magic and science be opposites. Many scholars of religion have rejected the utility of the term magic, the term magic comes from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. This meaning of the term was adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. The concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, although in the modern period Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to establish the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, throughout Western history, there have been examples of individuals claiming to be practitioners of magic and referring to themselves as magicians. This trend has proliferated in the period, with a growing number of magicians appearing within the esoteric milieu. Scholars of religion have failed to agree on a definition of magic is. The subject has one of intense dispute, with some scholars criticizing the validity of the term in the first place. Even among those throughout history who have described themselves as magicians, there has been some debate among scholars as to whether to use the term magic at all. The scholar of religion Jonathan Z. Smith for example argued that it had no utility as a term that scholars should use. Religious historian Wouter Hanegraaff agreed, stating that the magic is an important object of historical research. Since the 1990s its usage among scholars has declined, within Western culture, magic has been linked to the idea of the Other. Using the term magic when discussing non-Western cultures or pre-modern forms of Western society raises problems, alternately, this term implies that all categories of magic are ethnocentric and that such Western preconceptions are an unavoidable component of scholarly research. Magic is one of the most heavily theorized concepts in the study of religion, the intellectualist approach to defining magic is associated with two prominent British anthropologists, Edward Tylor and James G. Frazer. This was an approach that viewed magic as being the theoretical opposite of science, in his 1871 book Primitive Culture, Tylor characterized magic as beliefs based on the error of mistaking ideal analogy for real analogy
30.
Mediumship
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indigenous Australians date back 28,000 years, some depicting skulls, bones, spirits, Other cave paintings in Indonesia date back a further 10,000 years. Mediumship gained popularity during the century, when ouija boards were used by the upper classes as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility, fraud is still rife in the medium/psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the presence of a voice, the practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such as Vodun, Spiritualism, Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups. In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits, or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by using automatic writing or drawing. Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two categories, mental and physical, Mental mediums allegedly tune in to the spirit world by listening, sensing. During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been documented back to early human history. Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement, Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century, allan Kardec coined the term Spiritism around 1860. Kardec claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits Book and later, his five-book collection, some scientists of the period who investigated spiritualism also became converts. They included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, nobel laureate Pierre Curie took a very serious scientific interest in the work of medium Eusapia Palladino. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T, Stead and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle. After the exposure of the fraudulent use of magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers. However, the religion and its beliefs continue in spite of this, with physical mediumship and seances falling out of practice, Spiritualism continues to be practiced, primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom
31.
Miracle
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A miracle is an event not explicable by natural or scientific laws. Such an event may be attributed to a supernatural being, magic, a miracle worker, other such miracles might be, survival of an illness diagnosed as terminal, escaping a life-threatening situation or beating the odds. Some coincidences may be seen as miracles, a true miracle would, by definition, be a non-natural phenomenon, leading many rational and scientific thinkers to dismiss them as physically impossible or impossible to confirm by their nature. The former position is expressed for instance by Thomas Jefferson and the latter by David Hume, theologians typically say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through nature yet, as a creator, is free to work without, above, or against it as well. The possibility and probability of miracles are then equal to the possibility and probability of the existence of God, a miracle is a phenomenon not explained by known laws of nature. Criteria for classifying an event as a miracle vary, often a religious text, such as the Bible or Quran, states that a miracle occurred, and believers may accept this as a fact. British mathematician J. E. Littlewood suggested that individuals should statistically expect one-in-a-million events to happen to them at the rate of one per month. By Littlewoods definition, seemingly miraculous events are actually commonplace, the Aristotelian view of God does not include direct intervention in the order of the natural world. Jewish neo-Aristotelian philosophers, who are influential today, include Maimonides, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon. Directly or indirectly, their views are still prevalent in much of the religious Jewish community, in his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Spinoza claims that miracles are merely lawlike events whose causes we are ignorant of. We should not treat them as having no cause or of having a cause immediately available, rather the miracle is for combating the ignorance it entails, like a political project. According to the philosopher David Hume, a miracle is a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent. According to the Christian theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher every event, even the most natural and usual, james Keller states that The claim that God has worked a miracle implies that God has singled out certain persons for some benefit which many others do not receive implies that God is unfair. If God intervenes to save life in a car crash. Thus an all-powerful, all-knowing and just God, as predicated in Christianity, the Haedong Kosung-jon of Korea records that King Beopheung of Silla had desired to promulgate Buddhism as the state religion. However, officials in his court opposed him, in the fourteenth year of his reign, Beopheungs Grand Secretary, Ichadon, devised a strategy to overcome court opposition. Ichadon schemed with the king, convincing him to make a proclamation granting Buddhism official state sanction using the royal seal, Ichadon told the king to deny having made such a proclamation when the opposing officials received it and demanded an explanation. Instead, Ichadon would confess and accept the punishment of execution, Ichadon prophesied to the king that at his execution a wonderful miracle would convince the opposing court faction of Buddhisms power
32.
Occult
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The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance
33.
Orb (optics)
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In photography, an orb is a typically circular artifact on an image, created as a result of flash photography illuminating a mote of dust or other particle. Orbs are especially common with modern compact and ultra-compact digital cameras, orbs are also sometimes called backscatter, orb backscatter, or near-camera reflection. Some orbs appear with trails indicating motion, orbs are captured during low-light instances where the cameras flash is used. Cases include night or underwater photography, or where a light source is near the camera. Light appears much brighter very near the source due to the inverse-square law, the orb artifact can result from retroreflection of light off solid particles, such as dust or pollen, or liquid particles, especially rain. They can also be caused by foreign material within the camera lens, the image artifacts usually appear as either white or semi-transparent circles, though may also occur with whole or partial color spectra, purple fringing or other chromatic aberration. With rain droplets, an image may capture light passing through the droplet creating a rainbow effect. In underwater conditions, particles such as sand or small sea life close to the lens, invisible to the diver, Orb Bokeh Digital artifact Rod Rolling shutter Will-o-the-wisp The science of orb photos, by Mark Kimura The Orb Video Archive
34.
Ouija
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It uses a small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic called a planchette. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words, Ouija is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. but is often used generically to refer to any talking board. Some Christian denominations have warned against using Ouija boards, holding that they can lead to demonic possession, Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated with Ouija have been harshly criticized by the scientific community, since they are characterized as pseudoscience. The action of the board can be explained by unconscious movements of those controlling the pointer. One of the first mentions of the writing method used in the Ouija board is found in China around 1100 AD. The method was known as fuji, planchette writing, several entire scriptures of the Daozang are supposedly works of automatic planchette writing. According to one author, similar methods of spirit writing have been practiced in ancient India, Greece, Rome. As a part of the spiritualist movement, mediums began to employ various means for communication with the dead, following the American Civil War in the United States, mediums did significant business in presumably allowing survivors to contact lost relatives. Businessman Elijah Bond had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed, the patentees filed on May 28,1890 for patent protection and thus are credited with the invention of the Ouija board. Issue date on the patent was February 10,1891, Bond was an attorney and was an inventor of other objects in addition to this device. An employee of Elijah Bond, William Fuld, took over the talking board production, in 1901, Fuld started production of his own boards under the name Ouija. Charles Kennard claimed he learned the name Ouija from using the board, when Fuld took over production of the boards, he popularized the more widely accepted etymology, that the name came from a combination of the French and German words for yes. The Fuld name would become synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, the strange talk about the boards from Fulds competitors flooded the market, and all these boards enjoyed a heyday from the 1920s through the 1960s. Fuld sued many companies over the Ouija name and concept right up until his death in 1927, in 1966, Fulds estate sold the entire business to Parker Brothers, which was sold to Hasbro in 1991, and which continues to hold all trademarks and patents. About ten brands of talking boards are sold today under various names, the Ouija phenomenon is considered by the scientific community to be the result of the ideomotor response. Michael Faraday first described this effect in 1853, while investigating table-turning, various studies have been produced, recreating the effects of the Ouija board in the lab and showing that, under laboratory conditions, the subjects were moving the planchette involuntarily. A2012 study found that when answering yes or no questions, ouija use was more accurate than guesswork. Skeptics have described Ouija board users as operators, some critics noted that the messages ostensibly spelled out by spirits were similar to whatever was going through the minds of the subjects
35.
Poltergeist
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In folklore and parapsychology, a Poltergeist is a type of ghost or other supernatural entity which is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. They are purportedly capable of pinching, biting, hitting, most accounts of poltergeists describe the movement or levitation of objects such as furniture and cutlery, or noises such as knocking on doors. They have traditionally described as troublesome spirits who haunt a particular person instead of a specific location. Such alleged poltergeist manifestations have been reported in many cultures and countries including the United States, India‚ Japan, Brazil, Australia, early accounts date back to the 1st century. The word poltergeist comes from the German language words poltern and Geist, many claimed poltergeist events have proved on investigation to be pranks. Skeptic Joe Nickell says that claimed poltergeist incidents typically originate from an individual who is motivated to cause mischief, Nickell writes that reports are often exaggerated by credulous witnesses. According to research in psychology, claims of poltergeist activity can be explained by psychological factors such as illusion, memory lapses. A study wrote that poltergeist experiences are delusions resulting from the affective and cognitive dynamics of percipients interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, attempts have also been made to scientifically explain poltergeist disturbances that have not been traced to fraud or psychological factors. In the 1950s, Guy William Lambert proposed that reported poltergeist phenomena could be explained by the movement of water causing stress on houses. He suggested that water turbulence could cause strange sounds or structural movement of the property, possibly causing the house to vibrate and move objects. Later researchers, such as Alan Gauld and Tony Cornell, tested Lamberts hypothesis by placing objects in different rooms. They discovered that although the structure of the building had been damaged, the skeptic Trevor H. Hall criticized the hypothesis claiming if it was true the building would almost certainly fall into ruins. According to Richard Wiseman the hypothesis has not held up to scrutiny, michael Persinger has theorized that seismic activity could cause poltergeist phenomena. David Turner, a physical chemist, suggested that ball lightning might cause the spooky movement of objects blamed on poltergeists. Parapsychologists such as Nandor Fodor and William G, roll wrote that poltergeist activity can be explained by psychokinesis. Poltergeist activity has often been believed to be the work of malicious spirits, according to Allan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism, poltergeists are manifestations of disembodied spirits of low level, belonging to the sixth class of the third order. Under this explanation, they are believed to be associated with the elements. Thornton Heath poltergeist Robbie Mannheim, claimed to be demonically possessed after using a Ouija board, the Enfield Poltergeist The Thornton Road poltergeist of Birmingham Tina Resch The Stone-Throwing Spook of Little Dixie The Canneto di Caronia fires poltergeist Christopher, Milbourne
36.
Preternatural
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The preternatural or praeternatural is that which appears outside or beside the natural. It is suspended between the mundane and the miraculous, in the early modern period the term was used by scientists to refer to abnormalities and strange phenomena of various kinds that seemed to depart from the norms of nature. Medieval theologians made a distinction between the natural, the preternatural and the supernatural. Marvels belong, properly speaking, to the realm of the preternatural. According to the philosophy of the time, preternatural phenomena were not contrary to divine law and this was a development of the idea that preternatural phenomena were fake miracles. According to Thorstein Veblen, such agents were often thought of as forces somewhere between supernatural beings and material processes. The linguistic association between individual agents and unexplained or unfortunate circumstances remains, many people attribute occurrences that are known to be material processes, such as gremlins in the engine, a ghost in the machine, or attributing motives to objects, the clouds are threatening. The anthropomorphism in our life is a combination of the above cultural stems. In 2011, Penn State Press began publishing a journal entitled Preternature. The journal covers magics, witchcraft, spiritualism, occultism, prophecy, monstrophy, demonology, paranormal Supernatural What is the difference between natural, preternatural and supernatural. Fortea Preternature, Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural
37.
Psychic
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A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception to identify information hidden from the normal senses. The word psychic is used as an adjective to describe such abilities. Psychics may be theatrical performers, such as magicians, who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading. Psychics appear regularly in fantasy fiction, such as in the novel The Dead Zone by Stephen King, a large industry and network exists whereby psychics provide advice and counsel to clients. Some famous psychics include Edgar Cayce, Ingo Swann, Peter Hurkos, Jose Ortiz El Samaritano, Miss Cleo, John Edward, psychic powers are asserted by psychic detectives and in practices such as psychic archaeology and even psychic surgery. Critics attribute psychic powers to intentional trickery or to self-delusion, a study attempted to repeat recently reported parapsychological experiments that appeared to support the existence of precognition. It is also used in science-fiction. The word psychic is derived from the Greek word psychikos, the Greek word also means soul. In Greek mythology, the maiden Psyche was the deification of the human soul, the word derivation of the Latin psȳchē is from the Greek psȳchḗ, literally breath, derivative of psȳ́chein, to breathe or to blow. French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, elaborate systems of divination and fortune-telling date back to ancient times. Some fortune-tellers were said to be able to make predictions without the use of these elaborate systems and these people were known as seers or prophets, and in later times as clairvoyants and psychics. Seers formed a functionary role in civilization, often serving as advisors, priests. A number of examples are included in biblical accounts, the book of 1 Samuel illustrates one such functionary task when Samuel is asked to find the donkeys of the future king Saul. The role of prophet appeared perennially in ancient cultures, in Egypt, the priests of the sun deity Ra at Memphis acted as seers. In ancient Assyria seers were referred to as nabu, meaning to call or announce, the Delphic Oracle is one of the earliest stories in classical antiquity of prophetic abilities. The Pythia, the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, was believed to be able to deliver prophecies inspired by Apollo during rituals beginning in the 8th century BC. Other scholars believe records from the time indicate that the Pythia spoke intelligibly, the Pythia was a position served by a succession of women probably selected from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple. The last recorded response was given in 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan temples to cease operation, recent geological investigations raise the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythias state of inspiration
38.
Psychic reading
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These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance, clairsentience, Claircognisance and Clairaudience and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues, there are many types of psychic readings practiced. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, email psychic reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings. Astrology is the ancient study of how distant objects in the such as planets. Astrology does not require psychic ability, aura readings involve the observation and interpretation of auras. The aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person. Psychics have offered aura readings for many years and they claim to have a unique ability to see or sense individual’s auras, however no evidence has ever been provided to substantiate this claim. Psychics suggest auras are made up of “bioelectromagnetic fields” or other phenomenon that do not have a legitimate. Individuals such as James Randi have tried to test claims made about aura reading, bruce stated that auras cannot be seen if any part of the person emitting the aura is obscured. One must wonder why clothing doesnt seem to inhibit aura readings, cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Cleromantic readings usually involve casting small objects and reading them by their position, orientation, there are numerous variants used throughout the world. A distant reading, traveling clairvoyance, or remote perception can be conducted without the reader ever meeting the client and this includes Letters, Telephone, SMS, Email, Chat and Webcam Readings. Distance between the reader and the client does not hinder the clarity of the reading, correspondence readings are usually done via letters, later emails and filling in special forms on Psychic websites. Telephone readings are live readings where both Psychic and Client hear each other by connecting via Premium Rate telephone line, SMS and Chat readings is a quick Question-and-Answer format of Reading allowing exchange of basic information between Psychic and Client. Webcam Reading, or Video Chat Reading is the newest way of Psychic Reading allowing real time live connection between Psychic and Client, Client has possibility to see and hear Psychic, and can choose to be viewed, seen and/or type during the Reading. Lithomancy readings usually involve especially suitable gems or stones that are immersed in water, or tossed as a set and its origins are unknown, and there are numerous different methodologies used by various cultures throughout the world
The dictionary definition of fairy at Wiktionary
Media related to Fairies at Wikimedia Commons
