Parapsychology articles and blog

I’ve recently published my review of a documentary called “Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what”. The film researches the evidence behind the “Big Five” psi phenomena and I liked it greatly. Take a peek at my review for some more info. Today I’m glad to present you my interview with Renée Scheltema, the filmmaker and producer of Something Unknown (link to my review of the movie). Despite this being my 15th interview that I publish here on the site, this is the first one that I did live, using Skype. Please excuse our accents and non-professionalism. Also, I’d like to remind you that Renée and I opened a forum to discuss "Something Unknown" and its topics. Renée is going to be there as well to discuss it with you. In fact, she had already posted a short welcome message there. So come over and join us at forum.mind-energy.net. It’s right near the Skeptiko podcast forum, which you should also participate in, in my opinion. We had a very conversational tone with Renée and the interview starts right in the middle of a sentence.

You can read the redacted transcript below or listen to the audio using the player below or download the MP3 directly.

Renée Sceltema: …I hear what you’re saying because Professor Tart, he told me there’s actually – you could call it the “Big Seven.” But then there are two in the “maybe” category. And one is mediums, you know, talking to dead people which – that’s scientifically you can’t prove that. I investigated it but somehow there’s a reasoning that goes in circles. So I didn’t complete it. And then the other in the “maybe” category is near-death experiences.

Jacob: I actually wanted to ask you about these, as well.

Renée Sceltema: I researched it a little bit and then because Professor Tart said it’s in the “maybe” category I decided not to include these – the film was already very full as it was with information. Couldn’t get that in, as well.

Jacob: I see. Could you tell us a bit more about yourself and why you decided to make this film?

Renée Sceltema: Okay, that’s in the film. I had those psychic experiences and I wanted to know whether I was deluding myself. I sort of knew that parapsychologists were doing research on this kind of stuff, but I hadn’t kept up. I’m not a “woo-woo” kind of person who believes all this stuff. Actually I don’t believe a lot of it.

But on the other hand, the first experience with my father was very strong. I guess in scientific terms you call it “crisis telepathy.” It happened when I was studying at the University of California, Berkeley, during the day. I would call my parents every three months. I had just phoned my parents a few days before. While I was with my nose in the books, there was this strong force that told me that I had to get up and phone them again. I remember walking down the street thinking: ‘This is weird. Why am I walking to the phone booth? There’s no reason for this. It’s the wrong time of the day.’

Then when I phoned, my brother picked up the phone, which is very unusual because he had left home and would never even pick up the phone. Then he told me my father had had a stroke and was fighting for his life at the intensive care. So that seared into my mind because I just picked up something there that was real and I guess it’s part of our survival instinct, no?

In Christianity, all these psychic experiences they call it “from the Devil” and it’s not been too long since they burned witches. And so according to this belief system all these psychic things are all thrown into one corner together with the witches and the weird soothsayers.

Long before that time, when we were living as Bushmen or Aboriginals, there would always be the Shaman who was capable of reaching beyond our minds; capable of doing these kinds of things. For them it was normal. So it’s only been in the past couple of centuries that psychic experiences have been suppressed.

I read a book long ago about Mutant Message Down Under, a beautiful book about an American woman who lives with the Aboriginals. She notes down what they experienced. They could heal; see remote view kangaroos, etc, just because it was just the only way to go.

So I guess it’s part of our survival instinct. So I didn’t regard it as abnormal when I had this experience with my sick father. I just thought, ‘Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.’

Also I guess, I’m at a certain age where I felt confident enough to tackle this kind of subject. I don’t think I would dare to make this film 25 years ago.

Jacob: Okay, it is also written there that you started to work on the film about 10 years ago. Why did it take so long?

Recently I have had the pleasure of seeing the DVD of a new movie called Something Unknown is doing we don’t know what…. This is an indie documentary filmed by Renée Scheltema that explores the science behind psychic phenomena. The award-winning movie, which was released in late 2009, is the best documentary that I’ve seen to date on this subject. Stay with me for a more detailed review of the film.

There are several things to like about Something Unknown, if you’re serious about learning more about ESP and psychic phenomena. First, the movie mostly focuses on interviewing and showing the work of the leading scientists in parapsychology, such as Dr. Dean Radin (Chief scientist of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, showing presentiment experiment), Dr. Rupert Sheldrake (biologist, talks about telepathic dogs, and telephony telepathy) and Professor Charles Tart, who guided Renée through the film and many more. Other names include Professor Gary Schwartz, Dr. Roger Nelson, Dr. Hall Puthoff, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Dr. David Dosa and more. In short, the “casting” couldn’t be better.

Secondly, it shows these scientists in their homes or working environments, which is much more interesting than seeing them talking in “sterile” studios, which is what other movies that I’ve seen do. This adds an additional personal dimension to the experience of watching it.

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It took Renée almost 10 years to shoot and edit this film, funding it from her own money, which says a lot about her determination and serious approach to this endeavor. She decided to go on this journey after having a couple of unexplainable experiences herself. I liked the movie so much that I asked Renée to let me interview her for Mind-Energy. I’m glad to tell that I’ve recorded the interview and will post it in a couple of days. So stay tuned.

What else is in the film? She met with Dr. Jack Houck, the organizer of PK parties and she also accompanied him to one of them. These are the famous PK parties which he holds in the US, where people bend spoons. Spoon bending is a thread throughout the film, being used to connect the various parts of it, although it’s not a scientific subject by itself.

There’s footage from Brazil of psychic surgeries, there are shots from other healing events and places. You see introductions about such projects such as Global Consciousness Project and Remote Viewing from the first hands, from the scientists themselves.

The film is 105 minutes long and is available on DVD in NTSC and PAL format. You can learn more about the film and purchase it on its official site.

With collaboration with Renée we've added a dedicated discussion forum for Something Unknown and its topics at Mind-Energy forums. Please join us in discussing it with Renée and other viewers.

The following article was sent to me by Buryl Payne in early 2009 but somehow I’ve only now got to publish it. I’m also putting the original PDF file that he sent me, which is better formatted. Buryl seems to be heavily into research of Biofield or what he calls “Spin Force”. The article discusses one of his experiments with remote healing.

Remote Healing Measured by the Biofield Meter

Buryl Payne, Ph. D. Psychology, Psychophysics Laboratories, P.O. Box 514, Soquel, CA. 95073

Abstract

A force around the human body different from electric, magnetic, gravitic, photic, or thermal has previously been discovered and was used in this research. Originally called a ‘biofield’ and now called a ‘spin force’, it was found to vary in amplitude with lunar phase, solar activity, vitality of the subject and other factors. It was found to vary in amplitude with intended remote healing attempts. In 17 out of 20 trials in this pilot study, with healers from 50 to 3,000 miles distant, a clear change in amplitude of the spin force was observed. Keywords: remote healing, subtle magnetism, biofield, spin force.

Introduction

It is known by experience that prayer and other means of visualization at a distance enhance healing, although no satisfactory explanation has been found to explain this effect. This study shows the operation of a different type of force may be involved. Called a spin force, torque, or rotational force, it is hypothesized to exist around all living organisms.

Biological spin force was accidentally discovered by the author while investigating ‘pyramid energy’ in 1976. The author’s device, called a Biofield Meter, displays a spin force when placed around an organism. It was found to exist around every human tested, a couple of plants, a grapefruit, watermelon, cat, dog and horse. Presumably it exists around all living organisms and its existence has been observed by other researchers. The amplitude of rotation of the Biofield Meter varies with solar and geomagnetic activity, changes direction temporarily at times of new and full moon and varies to some degree with the health of the subject.

Several researchers have observed some physiological changes in humans as a response to remote healing. Ron Hruby, a retired NASA electrical engineer, made his own version of the Biofield Meter and hypothesized that it might respond to distant healing attempts on a subject. He found this to be the case. In 18 trials with four subjects, he found 100% correlation of changes of the Biofield Meter amplitude of rotation with attempted healings by a small group ten miles distant from the subject. This study expands upon the work of Ron Hruby, and attempts to verify his results while using variable distances between the healers and the subjects.

Materials and Methods The Biofield Meter consists of a square frame, made of 0.25 inch diameter wood dowels, 16 in. on each side. Six ring magnets are centered on each dowel and 16 in. long strings are attached in the center of the six magnets on each dowel. The strings angle to a center where a set of two mirrors of 1.5 inch diameter are glued back to back. A hook and additional string is used to hang the apparatus over the subject’s head at eye level. The device looks roughly like a pyramid frame.

In practice, the Biofield Meter rotates a few degrees after being placed over a subject. Given an initial impulse, and because it is a string suspension, the torque on the string, or winding force, limits continuous rotational movement. It winds up and unwinds, in other words, oscillating back and forth for a few minutes. The number of degrees of initial rotation was used as a measure of spin force around the body.

This experiment was conducted in Santa Cruz, California. Twenty trials were conducted May to June, 2005. The first trial was completed with a small group of remote healers in Sheffield, Massachusetts, a distance of 3,000 miles from Santa Cruz. Three Biofield Meters were set up around three subjects. The subjects’ first names were supplied to the distant healers. The healers chose one subject for the healing attempt, which was unknown to the observer. A start time was determined for the healing attempt, and observation of the biofield meters began at that time. Movement of the three biofield meters were measured and recorded during the trial period. Following the trial period, the name of the chosen subject was revealed to the observer. In addition to this initial trial, seventeen other remote healers were invited to attempt distant healing on one of two subjects chose by the experimenter. Seventeen subsequent trials involved one to three subjects and one to four remote healers. It was not feasible to repeat tests using multiple subjects as it was too difficult to coordinate them. Two more trials were conducted on a radio show called ‘Out of Time’ in Hot Springs, Arkansas. On this show the author invited the listening audience to attempt remote healing on a subject sitting next to him. There were two main subjects who where involved in most of the trials.

Results

In the first trial, one of the three Biofield Meters rotated more than 720 degrees, (more than 2 complete rotations). Later phone communication showed that this was the subject chosen for the healing attempt. The subject did not report any sensations or feelings at the time of the attempted healing or on the following days.

In seventeen out of twenty trials, the Biofield Meter showed deflections from about 3 degrees to four full turns (1440 degrees) around the subject chosen for healing. These seventeen included the trials involving the radio show audience. No obvious ‘healing’ effects or sensations were observed by one of the two main subjects. The other subject felt sensations four times which resulted in some healing one time. In three trials where it was offered the remote healers correctly identified problem areas for one subject.

Discussion

In the 1980’s, the author’s initial observations of biofield amplitude used a different version of the Biofield Meter (heavier with more magnets) and showed rotations of only a few degrees. In this experiment the maximum observed was 1440 degrees. The lighter version of the Biofield Meter used in this experiment may be more sensitive than the heavier version.

This experiment shows remote healing at distances of up to 3,000 miles can be indicated by the Biofield Meter. However, the foregoing results need to be replicated with trials in which Biofield Meter rotations are measured more accurately. A scale or rotation counter, perhaps measured in 1/8 rotations would improve measurement.

Another factor to take into account would be the subjects own intrinsic biofield. A control measurement could be made where the subject would sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to allow the Biofield Meter to come to rest. In addition, it would be better to schedule experiments at times of quiet solar / geomagnetic field activity. This can now be predicted to about 70% accuracy. Solar flares can be predicted even more accurately.

Russian Scientists apparently discovered a similar force to that which is measured by the Biofield Meter. They called it a ‘Torsion field’ and did not notice that it was present around living organisms. One Russian researcher found possible evidence that torsion fields appear to propagate significantly faster than the speed of light. He designed a device which could detect the Torsion Field from stars and found that the effect was larger when he pointed his device at the place where the star would be today rather than where it was when the light left the star some time ago. This possible high velocity of spin field could be a factor in healing at a distance.

Theoretical revisions may need to be made as a result of this discovery, if it is verified. If the spin field travels much faster than light, this will require a slight revision in the explanations of electron spin experiments which have puzzled physicists for many years. Since the presence of a rotational force or torsion field can be easily verified by anyone in an hour or two by using a Biofield Meter, an expansion of some physics theories may be required.

From the results of this experiment, one can hypothesize that healers have a much greater influence on the biofield than other effects, such as phase of the moon, solar storms, the proximity of some planets, vitality of the subject, or willful intention of the subject (psychokinesis). Many studies can be made both on the biofield and on remote healing.

This experiment did not distinguish between non-healers (the radio audience) who focused on the subject or people who identified themselves as remote healers. One future study could be on the ability of an individual to affect the biofield of the subject simply by focusing their thought on the subject, without attempting to heal.

Conclusions

In summary this pilot study shows the ability of a simple instrument to detect spin force around humans and opens up a large variety of speculations and possible experiments. Several future studies should be conducted to expand this new area of research.

Acknowledgments

I would like to give many thanks to all the healers and subjects who freely donated their time and services to this project.

References

1. Payne B. A new device which detects and measures an energy field around the human body. American Journal of Acupuncture 1983; 11(4): 353-358.

2. Peschka W. Kinetobaric effect as possible basis for a new propulsion principle. Raumfahrtforschung 1974; trans. by D. Reed, In: t. Valone (ed), Mechanical Energy from Gravitational Anisotropy, Integrity Research Institute, Washing ton, DC, 1996.

3. Payne B. Polarity shifts in a human biofield at times of new and full moon. National Council on Geocosmic Research, Mar. 1985, 17- 19.

4. Hruby R. Empirical detection and measurement of Savely Savva’s Bio-Field. Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb. \ Mar. 2003.

5. Payne B. Planetary positions and sunspots. The National Council for Geocosmic Research Journal 1993; Winter 92-93: 33-39.

6. Payne B. The Body Magnetic. Boulder, CO: PsychoPhysics Press, 1988: 276.

Reprint address:

Dr. Buryl Payne
P.0. Box 514, Soquel, CA 95073 
buryl@buryl.com 
www.buryl.com

I practice Qigong. "Qigong (or ch'i kung) is an internal Chinese meditative practice which often uses slow graceful movements and controlled breathing techniques to promote the circulation of qi within the human body, and enhance a practitioner's overall health" - Wikipedia.

The specific style of Qigong that I practive is called YiQuan and we focus on health benefits of Qigong. I've been now practicing it for more than 3 years. I've written about my first YiQuan Qigong lesson in late 2006 and also a review of YiQuan almost a year later.

Unfortunately, there's not much information about Qigong in English, espcially free information. There are some books, many translated book and it's good. Lately, though, I've found a good Qigong podcast (audio, like a radio). This is a weekly podcast, with each episode about an hour long, which is available through Blog Talk Radio. The podcast is called "The Secrets of Qigong master" and you can listen to it on their site, download the sound files or subscribe using iTunes for automatic updates, which is what I do.

Every episode is an interview with a different Qigong master and the host brings the best people such as Mantak Chia, Chunyi Lin, Dr. Norman Shealy, Li Junfeng and many others.

Listening to some of these episodes I found it fascinating how masters of different styles and schools share the same vision of Chi, the universe and health. Some of the questions and answers go deep into these issues which makes the interviews very interesting.

So, if you're into energy practice, energy healing, internal martial arts, and especially if you practice some form of qigong, don't pass on this fine podcast.

This is a beginning of new year and this year Mind-Energy.net will turn 5 years old. Wow, it's been an interesting ride.

I now have the ability to do some more for Mind-Energy then previously and I would like to know what you, my readers, would like me to focus more on. Is it on the scientific parapsychology stuff, is it the interviews, book or product reviews, articles about energy healing, some health "hacks" for different situations, like the nose congestion massage or 1-minute energy exercises?

Maybe you'd like something that I didn't even consider.

Please take a minute to think and write in the comments to this article about your wishes from Mind-Energy.

Thanks, Jacob.

I’ve recently got myself an iPhone. One of the applications that I downloaded was a simple to use application from Russell Targ, a famous ESP researcher. Russell Targ is a physicist and author who was a pioneer in the development of the laser, and cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s investigation into psychic abilities in the 1970s and 1980s (from his web site, espresearch.com).

The ESP trainer was developed under a NASA program by Russell Targ at Stanford Research Institute.

We have found that people are able to improve their ESP scores by using a machine just like this and get in touch with the part of themselves that is psychic. This is often called a clairvoyant ability, and can enhance your life in many surprising ways.

In a year long NASA program with 145 subjects (under Contract 953653 NAS7-100) many were able to significantly improve their scores. Four of the subjects improved their scores at the hundred-to-one level or better. This approach has been used with surprising success on Wall Street. But of course, past results are no guarantee of future performance.

Because you are learning a new skill, slower is better than faster.

The application itself is quite simple and totally free. You’re presented with 4 colored squares and need to guess where the picture is (pick the correct one of the four). If you succeed, you will hear a chime, feel a vibration, and see a large color picture.

If you find yourself frequently scoring 12 or more out of 24 trials, you should contact Russell Targ.

Click to open the application on iTunes store.

Michael Tymn has a very interesting blog at his gaia page. Michael often writes about the issues of survival after death, such as mediumship and NDE. Recently he published a short interview with Dr. Charles Tart.

Tart is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California (Davis campus), where he served for 28 years and is now a core faculty member of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, Calif. He has authored more than a dozen books, including Altered States of Consciousness (1969) and Transpersonal Psychologies (1975). He studied electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before deciding to be become a psychologist. He received his doctoral degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1963, and then received postdoctoral training in hypnosis research with Professor Ernest R. Hilgard at Stanford University.

Michael Tymn starts with generic questions about how Dr. Tart came to parapsychology and about his latest book, The End of Materialism . But later focuses his questions on the subject of survival. I must say that Dr. Tart had some really interesting answers. He definitely holds his own opinion about things. He also thinks that the basic 5 ESP types, such as telepathy and precognition were proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Read the full interview with Dr. Charles Tart.

Canadian Psychic Medium Barb Powell, nicknamed the “Sixth Charm”, is sought out for her skills in Paranormal Investigations as well as psychic/medium readings. A popular psychic who has been in the fore front of the media for the past 10 years. You may have heard her on Darkness Radio with Dave Shrader, Sirius Radio’s Living Successfully or her interview on The Kevin Smith Show. Barb was the only one in the history of The Kevin Smith Show that pulled in so many listeners and tipped audience ratings. She can also be viewed on TV and read about in Magazines.

Could you please tell the story of discovering your intuitive abilities?

I always knew I was ‘different’. I never quite fit in, even if I were in a crowd of people. It was like I was always observing everything instead of being a part of a group. I would see ‘colors’ around people, which I now know to be a person’s energy or aura. I could see spirit, those who have passed on and I would talk about them to people. You learn very quickly as a child what to say and what not to say. I learned to keep my mouth shut about certain things that were out of the ordinary. I tried to make myself fit into society and be like everyone else. I didn’t want to be different.

When I was a young girl there was an incident where my grandfather had passed away unexpectedly. It was my first experience with someone passing away let alone someone who was close to me. A few days later he appeared to me and began to speak to me. I remember it rather clearly. My brother came into the room and I do remember hearing him yell to my mother that something was wrong with Barb. It was like hearing his voice through a tunnel, it was hollow sounding. I was somewhere else at that point, I could not even feel my own body, nor did I have control over my body. My mother came into the room and began to ask me questions and I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t see my grandfather. I remember feeling happy and he wasn’t dead. That perhaps everyone was mistaken. No one in my family knew what was happening, they figured I was stressed and no one talked about it again….ever. I have always been different. As an adult I knew what it was I could do as a child. But it was more shunned then because I lived in a small community. It wasn’t talked about as much as it is now.

In your bio I’ve read about an incident with the church, where you and your husband were thrown out of it because you wouldn’t agree to take your site down and abandon the practice. How do you see today the relations between established religion and psychic abilities?

My husband worked as a youth pastor at the church we belonged to. I was asked to take my website down and to become a ‘prophet’ to the church. My husband calmly told them that only Jesus Christ is the true prophet. Needless to say I did not take down my website, nor discontinue my work. We are all made in the image of God and we need to be our truly unique selves and be ok with who and what we are as long as we are being true to ourselves and living the best life we possibly can. I do not have an issue with religion, religion has an issue with me.

People need something to believe in and as long as it’s good for them, I don’t see anything wrong with it. I do have an issue with those individuals and organizations that tell people what to do and how to do it. There are many religions and churches that do use their intuition, which they state is from God. I’ve been to churches that the Minister stands up and relays messages of health and emotional well being. I try not to worry myself over what someone else is doing, or what religion thinks of me. I know that I’m trying to do the best I can for myself, my family and for my clients. Living by that rule has helped me to stay grounded and free.

On your site you list skills that you work within. Some of them are: Psychic Intuitive, Medium, Angel Reader, Pet Communicator, Spirit Guide Messages. Some of these concepts require a very special and uncommon world view. I would like to know how you see the world, especially the “unseen” part of it.

I love the world. The world is mysterious and beautiful! Just like the world that has areas such as forests and ocean that has not been explored, so too is the human mind! I truly believe that one day the art of psychic abilities will have the proof needed to show that this intuition is real and accessible to anyone. There will always be those who do not agree or feel that it’s wrong. I’m not here to prove anything, nor to try and argue with someone.

My world is like walking into a busy shopping mall. You can hear people talking, all the conversation and words are bumping into each other and not making sense. This is my world 24/7. When you go to a mall you are not overcome by the noise because you don’t always pay attention to it. Sure it can be overwhelming to you, the crowds, pushing and the business of everything. But you are at the mall to do or get something. Therefore you ignore all this external stimuli. That is what I do. I ignore it unless I’m in work mode. When I’m in work mode, I then pay attention to it. I may not always understand it, but I’ll pay attention to it. The spirit world is very close to our world, there is a very thin thread between worlds is the best I can describe it.

You describe yourself also as a paranormal investigator. What does a “paranormal investigator” do? Could give an example?

A paranormal investigator is simply someone who goes into a place of business or home in order to investigate unexplained phenomena. It’s not always caused by spirit or something unexplained. There have only been a few occasions that I can honestly say that a house or place of business is truly ‘haunted’ and I have been doing this type of work for years full time. I am usually called when people are scared or they fear that business is being affected by what the believe to be spirit. I never go alone and I am usually accompanied by a team. There are those in my team who use equipment such as an EMF reader, Infrared Thermal Scanners, compass and other such tools. Obviously I can pick up any spirit or energy changes in an environment.

One of the services that you offer is “Corporate Psychic”. What is this? How common is it in business to use the skills or psychics?

A corporate psychic is a psychic who uses intuitive skills in order to help a business succeed. This type of psychic is like a consultant who looks at the employees listed and can tell who are the trouble makers and who needs to stay and who needs to go in order to make a business run better and succeed. This psychic can help hire new employees and look at the business to see where things may be going wrong and how to correct it. This type of psychic is also good in picking jury selections as well. I think people would be very surprised to learn just how many businesses use a corporate psychic! It’s quite popular.

You also write that you help with Strategic Planning, Employee selection and hiring etc. How being a psychic make you suitable for performing Strategic planning for corporations? How do you help with employee selection?

It’s all about the energy of someone. A psychic can detect who are the trouble makers and who are better workers. They can tell who will cause issues down the line and hopefully save a business some trouble. I’ve had business owners call me up to ask me about their business. That’s all I need to know from them. From there I can usually tell what the business is about and where things are going wrong and hopefully be able to offer some solutions of how to get things back on track.

You know, mediumship has not been accepted by established science as a fact. Same for other psychic effects and skills. How do you think it would be possible to prove the whole world that there is indeed truth to it?

I learned a long time ago that people will believe what they want to believe and that it isn’t up to me to prove anything to anyone. That is how I choose to live my life. I’m not living for other people or what other’s may think of me and I am now ok with that. It took a long time to get to that point in my life, but I’m there. That doesn’t mean certain things do not bother me…but I’ve learned to deal with them in a more positive way instead of allowing negative thoughts and comments affect me.

There have been many mediums/psychics who have ‘proven’ their skills and there are still people out there that give this work a bad name because they do not work in an ethical way.

Do you ever have any doubt regarding the messages that you relay to your customers through you psychic gifts? In general, what makes you certain that your abilities are real and that the world as you see it?

Because I'm human there is always doubt in our lives. One of the most common questions I get from students is how can they be sure that it's intuition and not projecting fears or hopes. How can you tell when a hunch is intuition that is valid and not something simply made up or a random lucky guess. My response to them is that you don't know. That's the entire challenge of using intuition. I've been doing this work for years and have been able to put aside my own fears, ego and personal opinions when doing the work that I do. It's highly unlikely you will see me crying with a client. I'm very blunt and honest with what I do. Basically with a reading, don't ask if you don't want to know the answer. I won't relay what I know a client wants to hear. I will relay the information I receive, which is one of the reasons I do not like to do criminal cases or cold cases with family members. I will usually only work with police because it's difficult to tell a family member all the details I receive when working on a case.

How do you think the world will change in the next 10 years?

Things change day by day. In 10 years I believe we will hear more health news in regards to cancer and AIDS. AIDS will change, meaning mutate and there will be another catch to this disease that will cause more panic and fears. But there will be good news in regards to cancer and cures. On a spiritual note, I see that people will become more accustom to hearing and believing in the spiritual realms. However, TV will take it to another level and play off the fears of people. Making things unbelievable and more difficult for those in this line of work. Someone quite famous in the paranormal world will be outed. Meaning there will be bad press for them as there will be those who are on a mission to out spiritual workers and frauds to make their point.

How do you see your mission in this world?

I see myself as getting by in the world. I’m trying to live the best way I possibly can while helping where I can. I’m not out to prove a point or to create a mission plan for myself. My theme is to be me and for me to travel down that road of self discovery and figure myself out. I wasted too many years trying to figure others out and ways I could fit into their world. I’ve set myself free to be who I know I am and that’s a person who is no longer afraid of what others think. Setting your soul free will allow you to sore to heights you never knew existed! Release those limits you set upon yourself. Anything and everything is possible. Don’t worry about the how to and the why. Focus on the goal, don’t focus on how to get there.

My thanks to Barb for taking the time to answer my questions.

There's a series of enrichment lectures at Google (the company) and they make them available for public viewing on YouTube. The lectures are not strictly technical and encompass a wide variety of topics with guest speakers.

The below video is of a lecture describing the basics of Oriental medicine practices, especially acupuncture and acupressure. There's also specific attention to stress in traditional western medicine and in eastern. 

In the second part, after the description, an eastern medicine doctor applies short acupunture treratment to some of the listeners and guides through a short relaxation meditation.

I’ve received this book from Quest books for a review. The full title is The Force Is With Us: The Higher Consciousness That Science Refuses to Accept. The author, Thomas Walker, D.C is a chiropractic physician, master-level martial artist, professor of natural science, and former Green Beret.

I’ll start with going over the structure of the book, chapter by chapter, and will conclude with my impressions of it.

In the preface Thomas tells that he started this project back in 1995 and worked on the manuscript for seven years. Several years later, in 2008 his son Clint was dying of cancer. Before he passed away Clint had promised his father to “keep in touch”. And he kept his promise. According to Walker, numerous anomalous and highly improbably events have happened later that year, described in the preface.

The book has 10 Chapters, each touching different aspect of parapsychology, spirituality or research.

The first chapter, titled “The Force – From Ch’i to Cosmological Constant and Beyond”, Walker starts with the Chinese concept of Ch’i (also spelled Qi), which is what chinese call the Life-force. Ch’i is believe to flow in the body, mainly through a system called meridians, which are highly relevant into Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). He refers to 1960s research of Professor Kim Bong Han in which he identified a series of unknown ducts in the bodies of animals and people that followed the paths of acupuncture meridians. He later discovered 2 more networks of such ducts bring to greater interconnection of cells in the body. Later follows a story about how the knowledge of Qi was brought to the west in the 20th century and how it was tested in medical tests to be helpful. Following with some research that was done on Qi, he finishes with the research of Professor William Tiller of Stanford University in which he develops a new theory build upon Einstein’s cosmological constant.

Chapter 2 – New Dimensions: Perceptions beyond the Body – talks about Near Death Experiences (NDE), Out of Body Experiences (OBE), explains what psi and parapsychology is. Explains the main areas of psi research from its early history in late 19th century through the 20th, including detailed history of Stanford Research Institute (SRI) research into remote viewing, backed by CIA.

Chapter 3 – More Dimensions: The Body beyond the Body – tells about the more esoteric subject of human bodies beyond the physical, such as etherial, astral and further, based on Theosophy. Detailed history of Kirlian photography and its research is described.

Chapter 4 – Where Do We Go? Arguments for an Afterlife – delves deeper into the research of NDEs, reincarnation research by late Dr. Ian Stevenson. Wakers covers the subject of mediumship, both in history and in research, such as Gary Schwartz’s research. Ending the chapter a detailed story of the great magician Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Chapter 5 – Paranormal Panache: Superstars of Psychokinesis – tells about the rarer macro-psychokinesis events, starting with 19th century Daniel David Home , who even performed for emperor Napoleon III and Tsar Alexander II, researched, and never found cheating. He was most known for his ability to levitate objects and even himself. Following is the story of Nina Kulagina, heavily researched Russian woman with strong psychokinetic abilities. Later follows the story of most controversial Uri Geller. The chapters ends with an overview of micro-PK research by PEAR, Dr. Dean Radin and others.

Chapter 6 – Magnetically Magnificent: Exploring the Human Energy Field – starts with Mesmer and his research into fluidum (the force) and animal magnetism. The story continues with Baron Karl von Reichenbach, a promising chemist, discoverer of paraffin who changed his career path to research magnetism in humans, which brought him conclusion similar to that of Mesmer that it’s not regular magnetism but other force, which he called the odic force. Next is the story of English physician Walter Kilner, who on the turn of 20th century, found that he could see energy field around living organisms with special equipment. The chapter ends with more recent research by William Tiller and Chinese Dr. Zheng.

Chapter 7 – Orgasmic Outcast: Was Wilhelm Reich Right? – tells the famous story of Austria-born Wilhelm Reich, physician, whose writings were burned thrice – by German Nazis, by Soviets and by US government. Follower and of Freud and even the director of his clinic in Vienna, Reich linked many health issues with the flow of psychic energy, which he called Orgone energy. He decided to research orgone theory. Thomas Walter tells in detail about the history of his research and his life, which ended in US Prison in 1957.

Chapter 8 – Healing the Rift: Alternative Medicine Arrives – gets into the details of many studies done in the 20th century, following the introduction of Chinese medicine and other alternative medicine practices in the west. Numerous studies showed the intent of healers, such a prayer or applications of the force, whatever it’s called, can greatly and positively affect organisms, including humans. Special attention is paid to Therapeutic Touch and to Chiropractic.

Chapter 9 – Schlock Science: Who Makes the Call? – tells about the difficulties that scientists who challenge the status-quo encounter on their way. Starting with Thomas Edison and his electric bulb invention, following the discovery of cold fusion by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons. Then Walter talks about non-psi subject of Mars exploration and the Cydonia region research by Richard Hoagland and the lies of NASA regarding issues related to Mars research. The second half of the chapter leaves the “science” and goes on to describe the history of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of Paranormal), established in 1976 and now called Committee of Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), started by Ray Hyman, James Randi, Marcello Truzzi and others. CSI is claiming to be an investigating organization but it appears to be a dogmatic Skeptical organization which denies any possibility of psi, without a deep look into things.

Chapter 10 – A Path with Heart: The Way Back Home – argues that the heart plays a more central role in the humans than just pumping the blood. Thomas describes various studies that suggest that not everything is controlled by the brain and that some neurological functions are scattered through the body.

My impressions

The book starts with the subject of Ch’i. Being a Qigong (Chi Kung) student myself for almost 3 years now, I tend to believe that there is something to it. I can relate to the fact that martial artists and Qigong masters can feel and “utilize” it.

The book goes over lots of subjects but has points where it goes deeper, telling about a specific person for several pages. So, even if I read about someone in short previously, I still found lots of new information.

Some might argue that the book is not scientific or that it doesn’t present the opposite point of view, i.e. criticisms of the studies. But having a chapter devoted to showing how science refuses to accept views that drastically differ from the status-quo and about the organized pseudo-skeptics, he clearly chose a side. I think it’s OK to write a book which shows what the author believes to be true. After all, there’s enough totally baseless criticism as well. And I also believe that the media and other establishments will much easier accept and transmit any skeptical argument, however vague, over a study proposing any psi effect.

In conclusion, I highly recommend the book to anyone who’s interesting in these areas of the paranormal or parapsychology which are presented in it. If you are a highly scientific person you’ll have 2 choices. Either skip the book or better yet, follow the studies present in the book (there is bibliography and notes) and try to read them yourself before deciding what’s right or wrong.

Does your head feel heavy sometimes? Maybe you are tired after driving or staring at TV or computermonitors?

Several years ago I’ve learned quite a simple technique that helps to alleviate the heaviness in head. It’s not a cure for any illness but it doesn’t require anything except a little time and healthy imagination. No drugs, even “alternative”, so, it won’t hurt you in anyway.

Like my advice on how to get rid of stuffy nose, which has helped hundreds or thousands of people, this will not work for everyone at all times but it’s sure worth to try. So let’s get started, because something is pushing on your head, right?

You can do it seated or standing up, but it’s better not to lie down. You’ll see why shortly.

1. Close your eyes and concentrate on the feeling in your head.
2. Try to imagine that the heaviness that pushes on your head is like a concrete block or like a manhole lid lying on your head and that’s why it feels so heavy – it is pushing on you with its weight.
3. Now, visualize a construction crane and imagine it lifting the lid off your head up and away. At this moment you should feel a little alleviation of the heaviness. The head should feel a little lighter for a moment. Don’t open your eyes and don’t loose concentration.
4. Most probably all or some of the “weight” will return very fast. So just repeat the lifting. Imagine pushing it away with your hands maybe or imagine the crane lifting it again.
5. If it works well, after some repetitions the weight should feel lighter. You may continue with this as long as you helps, probably a couple of minutes.

Be warned though that since this is a visualization based technique it won’t help you in cases where a real physical problem such as sinusitis causes your pain in the head. It’s not a cure for any illness. The technique is just a tool that can help you deal with the feeling of a heavy head, usually because of some fatigue, physical or mental.

Of course, you should complement the technique with other things like rest, drinking water etc, which will address the underlying source of the heaviness.

A prolonged article in the Daily Mail tells the story of James Leininger, now 11, who from the age of 2 years had nightmares. His nightmares were about crashing airplane.

Investigation done by his father, Bruce Leininger, led him to believe that his son recounted a crash of a WWII pilot, James Huston, who died in 1945 after his plane took a direct hit and plunged into the water.

The story has lots of detail, in which it turns out that the boy knew the model of the plane – the Corsair, that he took off from a ship named “Natoma”, names of the pals of the pilot etc.

The nightmares began 9 years ago, when James merely turned 2 years old. Luckily for him they faded off and complete stopped at age 8. During this time the boy showed knowledge of airplanes of WWII era, the location of his death, names etc.

The story, if true and not overly exaggerated by his parents, is extremely remarkable and provides a strong case for the possibility of reincarnation or at least the ability of knowledge of one person to be passed to another.

I urge you to read this article fully, it’s captivating. I’d like to know what you think about this case. Post in comments or on the Mind-Energy forum.

Source: Reincarnated! Our son is a World War II pilot come back to life