An Exploration of Trance Mediumship

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A good analogy to what might be going on is how expert pianists differ from novices," Newberg said. "When you're learning how to play the piano, you have to concentrate on where your fingers go, think about what note is played next, but when you become a concert pianist, your hand flows over the keyboard — you almost don't have to think about what you're doing. It makes sense that the brain would become less active as it becomes more efficient at doing something." A new study has found that mindfulness meditation for pain relief is a viable treatment, with 89% of participants reporting less pain after an 8-week program.

The Hungarian medium Ladislas Lasslo confessed that all of his spirit materializations were fraudulent in 1924. A séance sitter was also found to be working as a confederate for Lasslo. [138] [139] Mina Crandon with her "spirit hand" which was discovered to be made from a piece of carved animal liver Stanisława P. with ectoplasm Horton, Adrian (February 25, 2019). "John Oliver on psychics: 'A vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures' ". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 25, 2019 . Retrieved February 25, 2019.In 1930 the Polish medium Stanisława P. was tested at the Institut Metapsychique in Paris. French psychical researcher Eugéne Osty suspected in the séance that Stanislawa had freed her hand from control. Secret flashlight photographs that were taken revealed that her hand was free and she had moved objects on the séance table. [149] It was claimed by spiritualists that during a series of séances in 1930 the medium Eileen J. Garrett channeled secret information from the spirit of the Lieutenant Herbert Carmichael Irwin who had died in the R101 crash a few days before the séance. Researcher Melvin Harris who studied the case wrote that the information described in Garrett's séances were "either commonplace, easily absorbed bits and pieces, or plain gobblede-gook. The so-called secret information just doesn't exist." [92] Helen Duncan with fake ectoplasm, analysed by Harry Price to be made of cheesecloth and a rubber glove Experienced psychographers often reported out-of-body experiences and little or no awareness of what they were writing. Less expert psychographers often reported feeling inspired and writing phrases dictated to them in their minds. The psychographic writing generated during the study involved topics such as the need to respect one another, the breaking of vicious cycles that lead to greed and spiritual ignorance, the cultivation of virtue and character even in difficult times, the necessity of seeing through hypocrisy and lies, and the importance of building bridges between spirituality and science. I find that the easiest way to get started with channeling is by setting the intention to connect with a specific spirit or guide, then simply allowing them to communicate through me. Another channeler in the early 1900s was Edgar Cayce, who claimed to channel his higher self while in a trance-like state.

Connor, Steven (1999). "9. The Machine in the Ghost: Spiritualism, Technology and the 'Direct Voice' ". In Buse, Peter; Stott, Andrew (eds.). Ghosts: deconstruction, psychoanalysis, history. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 203–25. ISBN 978-0-312-21739-6. Harry Houdini. (2011 reprint edition). Originally published in 1924. Magician Among the Spirits . Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-108-02748-9 In 1976, M. Lamar Keene, a medium in Florida and at the Spiritualist Camp Chesterfield in Indiana, confessed to defrauding the public in his book The Psychic Mafia. Keene detailed a multitude of common stage magic techniques utilized by mediums which are supposed to give an appearance of paranormal powers or supernatural involvement. [173]In a 2019 television segment on Last Week Tonight featuring prominent purported mediums including Theresa Caputo, John Edward, Tyler Henry, and Sylvia Browne, John Oliver criticized the media for promoting mediums because this exposure convinces viewers that such powers are real, and so enable neighborhood mediums to prey on grieving families. Oliver said "...when psychic abilities are presented as authentic, it emboldens a vast underworld of unscrupulous vultures, more than happy to make money by offering an open line to the afterlife, as well as many other bullshit services." [53] [54] Fraud [ edit ] Helen Duncan (age 30) in a séance with dolls (1928)

The poet Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth attended a séance on 23, July 1855 in Ealing with the Rymers. [67] During the séance a spirit face materialized which Home claimed was the son of Browning who had died in infancy. Browning seized the "materialization" and discovered it to be the bare foot of Home. To make the deception worse, Browning had never lost a son in infancy. Browning's son Robert in a letter to The Times, December 5, 1902, referred to the incident "Home was detected in a vulgar fraud." [68] [69] The researchers Joseph McCabe and Trevor H. Hall exposed the " levitation" of Home as nothing more than his moving across a connecting ledge between two iron balconies. [70] The key role in mediumship of this sort is played by "effect of subjective confirmation" (see Barnum effect) — people are predisposed to consider reliable that information which though is casual coincidence or a guess, however it seems to them personally important and significant and answers their personal belief. [203]In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has investigated mediumship phenomena. Critical SPR investigations into purported mediums and the exposure of fake mediums has led to a number of resignations by Spiritualist members. [59] [60] On the subject of fraud in mediumship Paul Kurtz wrote: In Shintoism, the public shrine is a building or place that functions as a conduit for kami ( 神, "spiritual essence", commonly translated as god or spirit). In Yoruba religion, it is said that Elegba, the son of Osun, became the great conduit of ase (divine energy) in the Universe.