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Glossary

AFFIRMATIONS – Positive statements, usually brief, that are regularly repeated, thereby establishing them into the subconscious mind and reinforcing the conscious mind.

AGENT - A person who knowingly has an unprecedented sense of the paranormal or can establish a form of contact with paranormal entities.

ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSESS (ASC) - Any state of consciousness that is different from 'normal' states of waking or sleeping.

AMULET - An object that has the power to ward off ghosts and evil spirits, usually worn about the neck or wrists.

ANGEL - Benevolent spiritual beings who help and watch over people.

APPORT – A gift brought, by spirit, to a sitter at a séance. Objects seem to materialize out of thin air in the presence of physical mediums.

ASTRAL BODY - The soul of an individual outside of their bodies.

ASTRAL PLANE – The spiritual dimension beyond the physical world. Described as the first sphere after bodily death. It is the plane visited when astrally projecting or having an out-of-body experience.

ASTRAL PROJECTION - See out of body.

ATMOSPHERIC APPARITION - Not actually a ghost or spirit, but instead a 'visual imprint' of people and events that was left behind in the environment that continues to replay.

AURA - A field of energy believed by some to some to surround living creatures.

AUTOMATIC WRITING / DRAWING – Writing, drawing or painting produced by spirit, when the conscious mind is otherwise engaged. Spirit makes use of the muscles of the arm and hand of the subject, who may be doing any one of a number of tasks and is unaware of the spirit work.

AUTOMATISM - An unconscious or spontaneous muscular movement caused by ghosts or spirits. ) Automatic writing is one form of automatism.

BANSHEE -  Omen spirits of Scotland and Ireland.

CHARMS - A spell or object believed to possess magic power.

CIRCLE – Term given to a sitting or séance since the usual form is to sit in a circle of chairs, which may or may not be around a table.

CLAIRALIENCE – (also CLAIRGUSTANCE) – Literally clear smelling; to smell something of the spirit world is known as clairalience.

CLAIRAUDIENCE – Meaning clear hearing, it is the ability to hear sounds, music and voices from the world of spirit, not audible to normal ears.

CHAKRA – A Sanskrit word meaning ‘wheel’. The charkas are at seven points located in the human body. They are connected to each other and aligned with certain physical glands. The charkas are connected to the spiritual body.

CHANNELING – Acting as an intermediary to bring information directly from an entity in another dimension. Term is generally applied to those who channel information from non-physical beings, who may or may not have previously lived on this plane, rather than from the deceased spirits of family members.

CLAIRHAMBIENCE – To experience a taste in the mouth from spirit.

CLAIRSENTIENCE – Meaning clear sensing, without actually seeing or hearing, it is a psychic perception of information from spirit.

CLAIRVOYANCE – Meaning clear seeing, it is the ability to see, in the mind’s eye, spirits, scenes and other information from spirit.

COLD READING - A psychic reading given with no prior knowledge of the sitter.

COLLECTIVE APPARITION - A ghost or spirit sighting simultaneously by more than one living person.

COLLECT UNCONSCIOUS - Form of analytical psychology developed by Carl Lung. It is the collective memory of all the humanity's past and is held somewhere inside the subconscious mind.

CONTROL – A term sometimes applied to a spirit guide or gate keeper who ‘controls’ the order in which spirits come through.

CRISIS APPARITION - Ghosts that appear to loved ones and close friends just before or soon after their death.

CROSS CORRESPONDENCE - Information received from the spirit world.

CROSSROADS - Point where two roads intersect. Said to be a focus point of supernatural energy.

DEATH - The end of life.

DEATH BED APPARITION - See crisis apparition.

DEMON - An evil being who shows great energy.

DEVELOPMENT CIRCLE / HOME CIRCLE – A group of like minded people who wish to develop their mediumship abilities, usually meeting on a regular schedule to work on various psychic development exercises.

DIRECT VOICE PHENOMENON (DVP) - The voice of a ghost or spirit being spoken to the sitters of a seance. The voice usually comes from some point near the medium, but not through the medium. Sometimes a spirit horn or trumpet is used. 

DIRECT WRITING - When a ghost's or spirit's handwriting appears directly on a previously unmarked, unwritten surface.

DOORKEEPER – The main spirit of a medium, who regulates which spirits are allowed to come through.

DROP IN COMMUNICATOR - A ghost, spirit or entity that makes its presence known at a seance.

DYBBUK - A Jewish legend. The restless soul of a deceased human being that enters the body of a living person and takes possession.

EARTH LIGHTS - Luminous phenomena typically shaped in ball form or irregular patches of light appearing randomly and defying explanation.

ECTOPLASM – Is a white substance that may exude from various bodily orifices when a medium is in a trance; varies from a fine mist to a solid, usually takes place in low light or darkness.

ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENA (EVP) - Electronically captured sounds that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FIELD - A physical field produced by electrically charged objects.

ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FIELD (EMF) DETECTORS - A scientific instrument for measuring electro-magnetic fields. 

ELEMENTAL SPIRIT - A spirit associated with one of the classical four elements (Air, Earth, Fire and Water).

ENERGY VORTEX - See ectoplasm.

ENTITY - Energies above the class of ghost where some form of intelligence is displayed.

ETHERIALIZATION – An incomplete materialization.

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION (ESP) - The acquisition of information by means beyond the five human senses.

EXORCISM - A religious rite to cast out a ghost, spirit, demon or entity from a living persons body or a particular location.

EXORCIST - Anyone who exorcises or professes to exorcise demons.

FAIRY - A type of mythological being, considered to be a form of spirit. may be benevolent or malevolent.

FALSE AWAKENING - An experience in which a person believes he or she has woken up, but actually is still dreaming.

FAMILY APPARITION - Ghosts that haunt one particular family. Their appearance usually means that someone within the family is about to die.

FOCAL PERSON - A person who is at the center of poltergeist activity. See agent.

GHOST - The visual appearance of a spirit or soul of a deceased being, human or animal. The disembodied soul or life force. A residual energy that under certain conditions may appear, make sound, or a smell. 

GHOST BUSTER - A living person who removes unwanted ghost, spirit, entity or poltergeist from a particular location.

GHOST CATCHER - A wind chime like device that makes noise as a ghost or spirit passes by it.

GHOST HUNT - An attempt made by the living to find, see or explain paranormal activity such as ghosts or hauntings.

GHOST HUNTER - A living individual who searches out and sometimes finds and identifies ghosts and spirits.

GHOST INVESTIGATION - A scientific endeavor, in a controlled environment, set up to communicate, record and capture visual evidence of the existence of ghosts.

GHOST LIGHTS - See Earth lights.

GRAY LADY - The ghost of a woman who has died at the hands of a lover or waits for the return of a loved one.

GUARDIAN ANGEL - An angel assigned to protect and guide a particular person.

GUIDE – A spirit who watches over a living person.

HALLOWEEN - All Hallow Eve, is the night of October 31st when the spirit and the living worlds allegedly become close enough to merge.

HALLUCINATION - Seeing or sensing that which is not real.

HAUNT - A place where a ghost or ghosts frequent.

HAUNTED OBJECT - Jewelry, furniture, clothing, etc. that seem to be haunted by a past owner or to have been cursed .

HAUNTING - The continuous manifestation of phenomena associated with the presence of ghosts or spirits attached to a particular location.

HYPNOSIS - Is a temporary condition of altered attention in an individual. Also known as a hypnotic state.

HYPNOTISM - Is the scientific and clinical use of hypnosis.

INFINITE INTELLIGENCE – A spiritualist term for the in comprehensible power of the universe, sometimes referred to as ‘Mother / Father God’.

INVESTIGATE – To observe or study by close examination and systematic inquiry.

KARMA – The word means ‘action’ and is the law of return as in reaping what you sow.

KUNDALINI – The power or life force that is raised when the charkas are activated.

LEVITATION – To raise up an object contrary to the known laws of gravity.

LUCID DREAMS - A dream where the dreamer does not know that they are dreaming.

LUMINOUS PHENOMENA - The experience of strange lights or glows often around objects or people. See auras and orbs.

MAGNETOMETER - A technical device used to study the strength, direction and fluctuation of magnetic fields.

MANIFESTATION – The appearance of a spirit, in visible form, usually in a séance. It can be in a solid form or it may be transparent, as an apparition.

MARIAN APPARITION - The appearance of the Virgin Mary.

MATERIALIZATION – The manifestation of a spirit.

MEDIUM – A person sensitive to the vibration of the spirit world which allows them communication.

MENTAL PHENOMENA – This includes clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, psycometry, scrying and various forms of healing.

MODERN APPARITION - New ghosts of deceased individuals. They appear in fashion from the current time.

NATURAL LAW – The principles of nature which includes humankind along with all forms of life; animal, vegetable and mineral. Understanding of the natural law determines our actions and reactions.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE (NDE) - A phenomenon in which a person clinically dies or comes very close to death only to be revived and then recall in great detail stories of spiritual worlds and other supernatural events.

NECROMANCER - A person usually considered a wizard or sorcerer who can raise the dead and command the spirits to obtain information about the future.

NECROMANCY - A form of prophecy performed by a necromancer.

OMEN - A foretelling sign of a future event.

ORACLE - A seer who can communicate with ghosts, spirits and Gods to obtain information.

ORB - A mass of energy in the shape of a ball. There are several classifications depending on size. Ghostly apparitions are usually associated with an orb.

OUIJA BOARD - A board with letters and numbers used by people who are attempting to communicate with ghosts or spirits via direct contact through the board and agent.

OUT OF BODY (OBE) - Also called Astral Projection. The phenomenon in which a lining person's spirit can exit their body in order to travel the Earth and other spiritual worlds and then return.

PARANORMAL – Of or pertaining to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation, as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception (esp) or other purportedly supernatural phenomena.

PARAPSYCHOLOGY - The scientific study of unusual events associated with the human experience and PSI subjects. 

PERCIPIENT - A living person who sees a ghost, spirit or paranormal event.

PHANTOM ANIMALS - Ghosts of deceased animals.

PHANTOM HITCH HIKER OR TRAVELER - A ghost or spirit that haunts a particular stretch of road or route. Phantom Hitchhikers ask for rides only to suddenly disappear when they reach their destination.

PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARITION - Ghosts and spirits that you can't see but appear in photographs after they are developed.

PHYSICAL PHENOMENA – This includes levitation, ectoplasm, derect voice communication, apports, automatic writing, talking boards, planchettes, table tipping, manifestations, transfiguration, rappings and knockings.

PLANCHETTE – A small platform used with a talking board, such as a Ouija board, or, with a pencil in it used for automatic writing.

PLATFORM – A stage from which mediums may deliver messages.

POSSESSION – Is what takes place when a spirit or entity takes over the body of another, without that person’s permission.

PRECOGNITION – To know ahead of time.

PSI - A general term used to denote the unknown factors responsible for a variety of paranormal phenomena.

PSYCHIC – To know information by sensing it; a person who obtains knowledge without having normal access to it, through extra sensory perception.

PSYCHIC ECHO - When sounds from the past have mysteriously recorded themselves into the natural environment.

PSYCHOMETRY – This is the handling of an object and from its vibrations, picking up information such as its history, owner, origin or value.

PSYCHO KINESIS (PK) - Is the apparent ability to influence the environment by intention alone. Also referred to as Mind Movement.

PSYCHO KINETIC ENERGY - Energy residue left embedded into the surroundings after a death or tragic event has occurred or a spiritual energy trapped by its surroundings or objects.

PURGATORY - The place where the souls of those who have died must go to be cleansed of all their sin before they can be admitted into Heaven.

RADIO VOICE PHENOMENON (RVP) - The voice of a ghost or spirit communicating through a regular radio.

RAPPING – Knocking noises produced by spirit.

READING – The giving of information by a medium or psychic and includes palm, tarot cards, runes or other objects to focus the seers’s mind.

RECIPROCAL APPARITION - An experience where both the agent and the ghost or spirit see and react to each other.

RECURRING APPARITION - Ghosts or spirits that appear in regular cycles, usually once a year on the anniversary of their death.

REINCARNATION - The belief that a soul can be reborn into a new body after death.

RETROCOGNITION – Knowledge of things from the past by other than normal means.

SCRYING – Using a reflective surface as a focal point for seeing the past, present or future.

SÉANCE – A ‘sitting’ with a medium for the purpose of communicating with the spirits of the dead.

SILVER CORD – The spiritual ‘umbilical cord’ that connects the astral body to the physical body.

SKOTOGRAPH – A name given to some spirit produced photographs, usually produced on graphic paper without the aid of a camera.

SPIRIT – Generally used in the sense of the essence of a person that moves on from the physical body to the ethereal.

SPIRIT DETECTION - The reading made by scientific equipment (EMF detectors, Temperature changes, etc.) when a ghost or spirit is present.

SPIRIT PROFILE - Researching the background and history of the ghost or spirit, then determining it's consistent patterns as a result of the findings.

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY – The capturing of spirit forms in photographs, either accidentally or on purpose.

SPIRITUALISM - Belief systems that ghosts and spirits can and do communicate with the living.

SPOOK LIGHTS - See Earth lights.

STIGMATA - Unexplained markings on a person's body that correspond to the wounds of Christ on the cross.

SUPER ESP - A more powerful form of telepathy that allow certain individuals to pick up information about a deceased person from other living people.

SUPERNATURAL - Pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe.

SYNCHRONICITY – Simultaneously or near simultaneously happening events that appear to be coincidental and meaningful.

TALKING BOARD – A board usually marked off with the letters of the alphabet, numbers and short phrases that is used for communicating with spirit.

TELEPATHY - Mind to mind communication.

TELEPHONE CALLS FROM THE DEAD - When a person receives a telephone call from someone who is dead. The person may or may not know that the caller is deceased.

TELEPORTATION - Paranormal transportation of an object from one location to another even through solid objects.

TIME SLIPS - Moments where the past and the present collide at one point.

TRANCE – An altered state of consciousness where the brainwave activity moves to a certain level.

TRANSPORTATION APPARITIONS - The appearance of ghostly cars, trucks, ships, bicycles, carriages, trains, airplanes and anything else used in transporting people. They haunt their old routes.

TRUMPET – A light usually aluminum cone like a megaphone that is a tool of physical mediumship. Placed inside a circle during a séance it can become an instrument through which spirits speak, amplifying their voices.

VAMPIRE - A supernatural creature (undead) that can only come out at night and feeds on the blood of the living. There are psychic vampires as well.

VORTEX - An opening or doorway between the physical world and the spiritual world; a portal.

WILD HUNT - A group of ghost horsemen or packs of ghostly dogs seen only at night.

WITCH - A woman who practices sorcery; performs spell work.

WRAITH - A ghost that comes back to avenge its own death. Considered an omen spirit.

X-RAY CLAIRVOYANCE – A form of clairvoyance where the medium is able to see inside closed areas, such as closets, boxes or safes.

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