Parapsychology articles and blog

On 3 March 2008, Sanal Edamaruku, who is the president of an organization called Rationalist International, challenged India’s tantrik (a black magician). The tantrik is thought to be the most powerful in India. Sanal has challenged the tantrik to kill him using black magic during a live TV program. The tantrik, Pandit Surinder Sharma, agreed. Sharma claimed during an earlier TV discussion that he could kill any person within 3 minutes using black magic. This has started because one of India’s former politicians, Uma Bharati, accused her opponents of using tantrik magic to hurt her, following a series of negative events in her life.

During the challenged, the tantrik chanted his mantras for a lot more than 3 minutes but it had no ill effect on Sanal whatsoever. In fact, Sanal Edamaruku only laughed all the time. The tantrik moved onto more “powerful” techniques and started to wave a knife and touch Sanal with it.

Only after two hours of this show, which overrun all other programs at that time on the channel, did the anchor declare the failure of the tantrik. The latter tried to explain it away with the thought that a very powerful god was guarding Sanal, to which he replied being an atheist.

The tantrik then said that his most powerful magic works only at night. Sanal has challenged him again. Under an open might sky several hours later they gathered for the ritual. The tantrik warned that once it is started there’s no way back and Sanal would get crazy and then scram in pain and die. Sanal laughed and they started.

Alex Tsakiris, the host of the Skeptiko podcast, selected replication of the "Dogs that know when their owners are coming home" experiment of Rupert Sheldrake, as the first one of his OpenSourceScience initiative.

Today, the project posted the first video, describing the experiment and some preliminary result. Our forums section now also added a new forum to discuss the replication, alongside the active Skeptiko podcast forum. After seeing the video, go to the new DogsThatKnow experiment discussion forum.

He also released show #41 of the Skeptiko podcast about the experiment.

I have lately interviewed the Magnetic Man Miroslaw Magola. During our email conversation he referred me to a recent interview that he’s done for a German language only print mysteries-magazin. I couldn’t understand the interview, since I can’t read German and I’ve asked visitors of my site help with the translation. To my happiness, Jan Martin Löhndorf from Germany agreed to translate the piece for me. Big thanks to Jan.

I’ve emailed the editors of the magazine and wrote that I want to publish the translation on the web. I’ve received no objection from them, so here I’m posting it. If I receive further notice form the magazine that asks me to remove the translation, I will. I’m not using any graphics from the article, only the text.

Interview with Miroslaw Magola in Mysteries Magazin

PSI-talent challenges sceptics “I don’t cheat!”

Miroslav Magola’s amazing “attractive” powers

Be it metal vessels, marble or wood: Nearly everything sticks to Miroslav Magola. For several years now, german Miroslav Magola, formerly from Poland, has been keeping people amazed with his unbelievable performances. With criticism growing, he now promises, “For the future, I will also appear using talcum and gloves.”

2002: In the middle of the ample foyer of the congress hall housing the Basel Psi-convention, kneels a bald-headed man of medium age on the floor – surrounded by amazed spectators. Before him are placed several metal pots of different sizes, all turned upside down. Cautiously, the man lays his hand on the bottom of one of the vessels, Then he slowly lifts his arm – and the spectators hardly believe their eyes. The heavy vessel seems to stick to the palm of his hand. As though it were magnetically attracted. Miroslav Magola smiles – and concentrates again. Then – still kneeling on the ground – he performs the same spectacle with his other hand. Slowly he reaches out with both his hands, each of them having a metal pot sticking to it. Then he smashes them against each other with full force, like a cymbalist. Several times, even. Without the pots falling down, as everyone would suspect. Alarmed by the noise, several of the visitors eye Magola to witness this exceptional performance. Slowly the “magnetic man” lowers his hands with the pots “sticking” to them again, places them gently on the carpet, where they separate from his hands – as though a hidden magnet was deactivated. Magola smiles. Stunned, the audience spontaneously applaud. More people halt. Because the uncommon guest holds some more surprises in stock. In a similar way, he “lifts” more objects with his hands, waving about wildly with his arms – but the objects still stick to his palms. Big cooking pots seem to even stick to his forehead, although, according to the laws of gravitation, they should crash downwards.

If you ever wanted to study parapsychology as a science but couldn’t do it for some reason (like maybe your closes university doesn’t include courses in parapsychology), now there is an option for learning online.

Dr. Caroline Watt, senior lecturer in psychology, from the university of Edinburgh now offers online course called An Introduction to Parapsychology. The course will be open to all (but not free) and will consist of 10 weekly modules. The course aims to provide a balanced approach and stimulate critical thinking on each topic. (from the course’s site).

There are two interesting lists on the site to clear the confusion of what’s the course is about.

What the course will teach you:

• what methods parapsychologists use
• what parapsychologists have found
• what paranormal experiences people have
• what critics say about parapsychological claims
• how to think critically about paranormal claims and experiences

What the course will not teach you:

• how to be ‘psychic’
• how to read minds
• how to hunt for ghosts etc.
• how to communicate with the deceased

The course might not be cheap for some, priced at £200 (around $400).

I introduce another article by dreq hempel who wrote here such articles as How Qigong or Taoist Yoga Explains Gurdjieff and The Highest Technology of All Technologies: The Yan Xin Secret

Gurdjieff and the Triode Amplifier: Your I-thought is the Pre-Amp, Taoism is the Triode Amplifier

by drew hempel, MA
anti-copyright

Normally the mind is weak and we are controlled by our emotions, causing sickness and lack of potential free energy.

As Gurdjieff states the West relies on dualism – whereas he relies on the Law of Three. There is an exception though in the West – THE TRIODE AMPLIFIER.

To turn your mind into a triode amplifier you first need a PRE-AMP. The I-thought – without visions and without words – is the pre-amp grid which reverses and amplifies the weak current that normally exists in our brain.

80% of our brain’s energy is used for vision but when we are asleep people rely on sound to wake us. Just as Einstein used the Doppler Effect to develop his theory of relativity – so too does the phase-shift of frequency create a significant increase in amplitude.

That’s the secret of quantum chaos Brian Goodwin – a biologist who authored “Temporal Order of Cells” and is now the inspiration for digital biology at M.I.T. Basically Kirkhoff’s Law – harmonic functions – apply equally to mechanical and electrical systems.

So back to your brain – the pineal gland exists between the ears – in the center of the head. When we hold onto the I-thought we activate the pineal gland as the pre-amp grid, just like a triode tube amp.

So normally there’s ALWAYS a weak current between the inner ears – the grid of the I-thought blocks that current and then amplifies it as a reversed current – a 180 degree shift.

This is just like how pedaling a bike makes you go forward – but you can’t explain this to someone, they just have to learn how to do it. The first time I was lied to, that I remember, was when I was taught how to ride a bike. The mind or talking and seeing is cheap. We learn through experience.

Einstein liked to use bike riding as a metaphor – just keep moving so we off-set the inertia which normally makes the wheels wobble side to side. You can see this by holding a wheel at the axle and spinning it – you can’t hold it because it wobbles side to side.

So gravity is just the velocity and acceleration of the forward motion while the mass causes the inertia. Intensity of energy is actually caused by frequency, not mass as amplitude. So gravity uses logarithmic math while quantum energy uses divide and average statistics but BOTH are dualistic. The triode amp is different – it uses Gurdjieff’s Law of Three whereby the I-thought, as the Pre-Amp, harmonizes the Will and
Consciousness.

The amplified current is the kidney energy (will), the spinning of the wheel, is the reverse breathing, activated through the I-thought.

But remember – the whole system relies on putting that PRE-AMPLIFIER or grid in place.

Gurdjieff emphasized that most Western alchemists just focused on the chemistry – what Taoists call the Jing – and therefore the energy level was just left at the emotional level.

He said the reason is because the West is too materialistic and didn’t take into account that alchemy starts with the I-thought. So will power is driven by the I-thought – the YI or intention in Taoism – reverses the desire of what our eyes see, so that the weak current between our ears now, with the pre-amp in place – the grid of the I-thought, is activated, reversed and AMPLIFIED.

In the last several days a number of interesting posts were added to our Parapsychology and alternative medicine forums. Here I’ll present several of them.

User anonymous, who often writes on the topics of psychic development, healing and spiritual churches and is happy to answer people on the topics lately wrote that Army is going to test alternative medicine for PTSD. PTSD is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for those who don’t know and many soldiers suffer from it, coming back from war. He quotes an article from Wired about the news:

The military is scrambling for new ways to treat the brain injuries and post-traumatic stress of troops returning home from war. And every kind of therapy – no matter how far outside the accepted medical form- is being considered. The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from “spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga” to “bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, [and] distant healing” to mend the psyches of wounded troops.

But many of these treatments haven’t been held up to much rigorous scientific scrutiny before. So the Army is looking to hand out $4 million in “seedling grants” to “conduc[t] rigorous clinical studies” into all sorts of “novel approaches.” Projects “containing preliminary data” will be eligible for up to $1 million. But even “innovative but testable hypotheses without preliminary data” could get as much as $300,000. Proposals are due May 15.

“Music, animal-facilitated therapy, art, dance/movement, massage therapy, EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing] program evaluation, virtual reality, acupuncture, spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga,” might all be considered worth of the military’s largess. So would “biologically-based treatments, botanicals, and nutritional supplements for enhancing cognitive function and mood in patients with trauma spectrum disorders, including TBI and/or PTSD, depression, anxiety, and/or substance dependence/abuse.” Even proposals for wild-sounding “therapies using bioenergies such as Qi gong, Reiki, distant healing and acupuncture” would be accepted.

This is good news indeed. I might add using the EFT therapy. One of its teaching videos even shows several sessions with people suffering with PTSD after vietnam war. And it seems that EFT helped them very much.

Another interesting post by the same anonymous is called Skeptics duped by Fraudulent Skeptics. Here’s the intro:

There is a big problem in the skeptical community. There is rampant obscuration of the truth by prominent skeptics who have misled masses of people. Skeptics often say that believers in the paranormal have been fooled by charlatans but it is the skeptics who have been fooled by prominent members of their community who seem to be more interested in winning the debate than in illuminating the truth.

Following, he provides a significant number of links and excerpts from various sources that signify the point. Including quotes from Randi, Dean Radin, Michael Prescott and more. Another forum user, LeoM, added several sources of his own.

In Home remedies forum user Allen Green posted a number of articles on various conditions and news from research from the web.

User Drynal wrote about the Art of making a psi ball, where he describes how to create a psi ball, which is an energy practice.

User Jozen-Bo writes about The Incredible Mind Portal which is something that he kind of invented and now promotes on the forum. It seems to be a technique that should help people to deal with their problems, generally speaking.

On the very active Skeptiko podcast forum there are lots of interesting discussions, both philosophical ones about the consciousness nature and psi and also discussions of the various episodes of the great podcast itself. One interesting post was added by user Open Mind, where he writes about The Collective Placebo Effect. Collective Belief & Disbelief?. He provides several quotes from various articles about the placebo effect. For example:

’......Cimetidine was one of the first anti-ulcer drugs on the market, and it is still in use today. In 1975, when it was brand new, it eradicated 80% of ulcers, on average, in various different trials. But as time passed the success rate of cimetidine – this very same drug – deteriorated to just 50%.
This deterioration seems to have occurred particularly after the introduction of ranitidine, a competing and supposedly superior drug…..

So, if you haven’t done this already, take a look at our various forums. Read the posts that interest you, ask your questions and write your answers and ideas, where they are fit. All you need to post is to register for the forums for free. You’re all welcome.

I’m glad to finally publish my interview with Miroslaw Magola, also called the Magnetic Man. Miroslaw possesses a unique ability to “stick” objects to parts of his body. I have already written an article about him in last October, see for an introduction Miroslav Magola the Magnetic Man. Since then I saw more references to him, including references from people skeptical of his ability. I am glad that Miroslaw has accepted my invitation to interview him. Note, that Miroslaw was born in Poland and now lives in Germany. Yet, his English is quite poor and he preferred to be interviewed over the email, since his reading and writing skills are better than his talking skill. Since most of my interviews were conducted over the email, I saw no problem with that.

Obviously, the claims of Miroslaw are quite extraordinary. There are very little people even claiming to have the ability to attach objects to them without adhesives, even rarer is when the objects are not metallic. Miroslaw himself proudly writes that he has been examined by several scientists or researchers in various fields and his website lists them. I have asked Mr. Magola, even before I sent him the question, to provide me with some references to these researchers, if which Miroslaw has sent me four contacts: Prof. Dr. Konstatin Korotkov, Dr. Alexander Imich, M.D. Dobruskin, Jack Houck. I’ve decided to check these four references for information about Magola.

Dr. Konstatin Korotkov seems to be a researcher and an inventor. He is a Professor of Physics at St. Petersburg State Technical University in Russia, published over 70 papers in leading journals on physics and biology, and he holds 12 patents on biophysics inventions (from his website). He seems to be researching what he calls bioelectrography, research of human’s energy field. He developed a technique known as the Gas Discharge Visualization technique (GDV), which should be better than Kirlian photography. I’ve sent an email to the email address at his webpage but unfortunately got no reply to this day.

Miroslaw gave me a phone number in New York for M.D. Dobruskin who seems to be related to Kirlian photography. Yet, on this phone number he was not available anymore and I couldn’t find any additional information on this person on the internet, except for some pictures where he tests Magola, on the following website (at the bottom): http://members.aol.com/mmagola/experiments.html.

Jack Houck is well known for his PK party. He also understands in metals, I think and he worked as an engineer for Boeing for many years. I wrote to Jack twice using the email supplied on his webpage but never got reply, too.

The only person who actually replied was Dr. Alexander Imich. I wrote about Dr. Imich twice here, in the articles An unusual voice mail and Dr. Alexander Imich is in financial need. I also mentioned him as one of the people reseraching Magola in my original article on the Magnetic Man. Dr. Imich is now almost 105 years old but he is still active in the world of parapsychology. So, I talked to him over the phone and he asked me to write him an email which I did. His reply was as follows:

Some years back, during an informal demonstration, I have seen various objects – metallic and non-metal – weighing probably up to 1 kg, sticking to palms and/or to the front of Miroslaw Magola’s head, and lifted by him this way from the floor.

To my knowledge, this is rather a rare human capacity of paranormal nature. Described for the first time in Russia and exhibited by Miroslaw Magola.

Sincerely,

Alexander Imich PhD., President
Anomalous Phenomena Research Center

In another interview of Dr. Imich (July 2005) he is also asked of Magola and answers the following:

Miroslaw Magola is a Polish citizen living in Germany. Together with Dr. Barbara Koopman, we have observed a phenomena first described in Russia. Various metallic and non-metallic implements, some weighing more than a pound, sticking to his skin. Not many people are producing this, ostensibly paranormal phenomenon that, in the very inadequate parapsychological nomenclature, has to be classified as psychokinetic.

So at least there seems to be some credibility to his claims although I don’t know of any real scientific papers that were published about Mr. Magola. Neither does he know.

Miroslaw was also kind enough to send me a lot of high-quality photographs of himself. He mailed me several dozens Megabytes of photographs and other material. He was also kind enough to email me scanned pages of the interview with him in the “mysteries-magazin”. The magazine is in German and I don’t understand German that much. If anyone who understands German is willing to translate parts of all of the interview from the journal I’ll be happy to email him the pages and publish it here (if copyright allows). You’ll see some of the photographs he’s sent me below the interview.

And now to the interview itself. I allowed myself to edit his answers a bit for spelling and punctuation for the best of my ability.

Could you please describe your ability to attach objects to yourself, is it only about metal objects?

My ability is like a „magnetic power“ ( not in the physical sense ). It is holding – but of course – without glue, adhesive-tape or similar things. The ability works to all materials : metal, plastic, wood, ceramic. See link http://www.magola.com/English/welcome.html

When and how have you developed this ability in yourself? How long did it take?

The Daily Grail website (paranormal news, mostly) had posted a large article about the JREF’s Million Dollar challenge, titled The Myth of the Million Dollar Challenge. The article is rather long (about 4000 words) and in it the author, Greg, discusses the challenge. He mostly argues about the success probability that Randi requires from the participants (about 1 to 1 million for the full 1 Million prize), which is way way above what is considered significant in science (1 to 20).

He also tells of several cases where Randi seemed to back up from a suggested challenge, when it seemed too risky for him. He also raises some legal issues, which are mentioned in the rules of the challenge, in which the participants will lose all right to their presentation in the challenge.

The article even got a response from Randi (though only in Randi’s own newsletter), to which Greg responds as well in an update to the article. Interesting read to anyone interested in the million dollar challenge.

Magola

I'm preparing questions for my upcoming interview with Miroslaw Magola, the magnetic man. Miroslaw seems to possess a rare gift to "glue" objects to himself. These objects are not only metal and he demonstrated his ability also with gloves and talc on his hands. If you want to ask the man some questions, please do so before I send them to him (couple of days).

To get a glimpse into his ability, read my previous story about Miroslaw Magola, which I wrote in last October. You can write your questions here in the comments or on the forum.

Marcel Cairo posted on the Skeptiko podcast forum a call for questions for Dr. Dean Radin. Marcel will interview Dr. Radin on February 27th for his AfterLifeFM podcast. Below is Marcel’s message:

Hello esteemed consciousness enthusiasts.

I will be conducting an interview with Dr. Dean Radin on February 27th, 2008. You are once again invited to contribute to this interview by submitting your question to my toll-free AfterlifeFM Interview line at 1-877-372-5367. This is a voice mail system that is open and available 24/7.

Please submit your questions by Monday, February 25th.

Things to keep in my mind:

1. Ask only one question at a time (two parts of same question is acceptable), but do not make it impossible for me to edit.
2. Be clear, concise and conservative with time.
3. Don’t answer your own question or try to declare your own position.
4. Be chipper & charming. This is radio, not a morgue.
5. You can always erase or edit by pressing # sign during/after your recorded message

Thanks for your cooperation and participation,
Marcel

For those who don’t know what EFT is: EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a healing technique which bases itself in the meridian energy knowledge and which especially excels in treating psychological issues along physical ones. See my experience treating migraines with EFT. To get started with learning EFT (it’s quite easy), go to EFT Get Started.

Latest newsletter from EFT founder Gary Craig links to a story by an EFT practitioner (actually, an EFT journal founder, Gary Williams). Williams discusses the topics of whether EFT can be explained by placebo effect. He shares Gary Craig’s views about it, which discuss why placebo effect differs from EFT procedure:

Placebo effects require some belief in the process and this is rarely the case for newcomers to EFT. Also, although EFT may appear to be distracting, it will not work if the client is, in fact, distracted. That is why the client continually repeats a reminder phrase which “tunes in” to the problem.

Williams then tells a story where he witnesses a car accident and went to help the injured, among them a little girl, crying hysterically on one of the cars:

I approached her, looking her in the eye and said, “What I am about to do is a little strange,” and then began tapping her on the face and hands whilst still holding her gaze. Within a matter of seconds, to my own surprise, she stopped shaking and became totally calm. It was as though we had built an island of calm amongst the chaos.

I can remember her saying “I am going to be late to pick up my father” – a strange thing to say, but I just reminded her that she had had an accident and that picking up her father would have to wait. Meanwhile the services had been called and then when they arrived she calmly climbed into an ambulance to be assessed.

Could this be a placebo effect or does EFT really work?

To learn more about EFT visit EFT homepage.

First thing I noted is the better production quality. Although the content of the show is the most important aspect, good production quality really benefits listeners.

The first episode a little over 20 minutes long, which is shorter than most episodes, but the reason is that it is not the regular interview episode but more like an opening show for the season, in my opinion. Alex called the episode Academic Snobbery and the Journal of Scientific Exploration and he talked about the issue of fringe science research and publication. He include audio quotes of his talks with Dr. Peter Sturrock, the editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. Also, University of Florida animal behaviorist, Dr. Clive Wynne and University of Colorado Ethologist, Dr. Marc Bekoff.

The show has a narrative tone with hints of humor, which really gives it a bit different feel. Some people expressed negative reactions to this change in the Skeptiko forums and you are welcomed to give your opinion, after you listen to the podcast.

I really wish great second season to Alex and I’m sure the content of it will be at least as good as in 2007.