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A
COURSE IN MIRACLES A completed self-study spiritual thought system
that was channeled through Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1972. It consists
of a Text, Manual for Teachers and Workbook for Students and teaches that
all humans share a capacity for love, forgiveness, compassion and peace.
Rather than trying to change the world, it teaches, you must change yourself
and your view of the world. Miracles are defined as a shift in perception
from fear to love. It also emphasis that it is but one version of the
universal curriculum, of which there are 'many thousands'. Consequently,
even though its language is that of traditional Christianity, the course
expresses a nonsectarian, nondenominational spirituality.
ABSENT HEALING
Healing that results from sending healing thoughts, visualization, prayers
or energy towards some distant person or persons. It is based on the belief
that all beings are interconnected by a universal life force or energy
and that healing thoughts send out subtle energetic charges into this
web of interconnection and out to the person being thought about.
Aside from countless
personal accounts from those who have benefited from absent healing, American
doctor Larry Dossey conducted several double blind trials to test the
effectiveness of absent healing in the early 1990's. At the end of the
trials the groups that had been the object of prayer showed greater improvement
in health than the control groups.
Scientists are
now proposing that psychokenisis is at the basis of healing be this self
healing or healing by another person focusing positive intention on another
individual. See healing for a more detailed exploration.
ACUPRESSURE
Is an ancient Chinese healing method that involves applying pressure to
selected points on the body to relieve pain and tension. It is based on
the belief that the body has 14 'meridians' that flow through the major
organs and carry energy, called chi, throughout the body. Acupressure
is an alternative medicine technique that deals with all the aspects of
a person - body, emotions, mind and spirit - as one whole rather than
as separate parts.
ACUPUNCTURE
An ancient Chinese healing system and alternative medicine technique that
involves inserting and stimulating particular points on the body with
fine needles. Acupuncture, like acupressure, is built on the theory that
there are special 'meridian' points on the body connected to the body's
internal organs and that 'vital life energy' [chi] flows along these meridian
line. According to this theory, disease is caused by interrupted energy
flow; inserting the needles restores normal flow.
AFTERLIFE
[also know as life after death] is the continuation of existence beyond
this world There are various sources for this belief but most for this
is the testimony of individuals who claim knowledge of the afterlife because
they have
Died
and returned [near death-experience]
Visited the afterlife when they were unconscious [out of body
experience]
Seen the afterlife in vision
Remembered the afterlife for a pervious existence [reincarnation]
Been visited by a representative of the afterlife such as angels
of spirits
Believe the testimonial of shamans or intermediaries between
the living and the afterlife.
Almost every society
know to us has some belief in survival after death, although these conceptions
vary enormously.
Christian ideas heavenly influenced by nineteenth century spiritualist
authors life Andrew Jackson Davis, who dictated his lectures in trance.
Davis suggested that after their death, humans continue spiritual progress
through a series of spiritual spheres until they reach the seventh sphere
and become with the infinite vortex of live and wisdom.
AFFIRMATION
A positive phrase or sentence that through frequent repetition uses
the power of your mind to create a truth or reality. Even though you may
not be consciously aware that you are doing it, everyone uses affirmations
[i.e. positive self talk] to boost confidence and motivation at some time
or other.
Affirmations are powerful verbal messages repeated over and over again,
so that they come embedded in your brain and create new pathways of thought
and action. In other words they provide your intuition with new avenues
for insight and opportunity and prepare your mind for change. Once the
mind is prepared for change and new opportunities it is thought to be
far easier to create those opportunities.
Affirmations are typically used by men and women in sport and business
but they can be useful for any career or life skill where goal setting
and mental strength is crucial.Going in to 'The Zone' is an approach adopted
by man sports trainers to help their students enter and sustain the winning
mind view. Psychotherapists and motivational speakers like myself as well
as life coaches tend to use them as tools to help empower their clients
and build self esteem, and alternative medicine as well as increasingly
more enlightened main stream doctors and health care practitioners suggest
the use of affirmations to encourage the body's self healing processes.
In this setting the term entering 'The Field' creates the self same effect
as carried out by sports coaches. The key to both entering and sustaining
a connection with either 'The Zone' or 'The Field' is to shift attention
away from outside influences and make a connection through the intuitive
self with that bigger, non-physical aspect of self. I believe it was Buzz
Aldrin, who viewing earth from the moon returned and said how his mind
set and subsequent life style changed completely. Here, as I read and
reflect on his self report of such a transformational event, I think of
the term 'mindstlye' which I created a few years ago to define a simple
yet powerful shift in consciousness resulting in a powerful connection.
USING
YOUR WILLPOWER.
Affirmations
are easy to do and can be beneficial if used correctly. It take
three to four weeks for the mind to absorb new information, so you
need to be patient and persistent.
Think about what you want to improve in your life. Are you happy
with your job? Do you want to stop smoking? Would like to lose some
weight? Choose your goal, but make sure it is achievable.
Lets say you want to lose weight. You now work out a statement suggesting
that you are reaching your goal. Be careful how you word it though,
because if you say something life 'I don't want to be fat anymore',
your mind will focus on being fat, not your goal, which is weight
loss. But if you say something like 'I want to be thin' this is
too gauge for your mind to assess. However, something like 'I am
going to lose six pounds this month' gets you in touch with the
end result and is specific at the same time. It gives your mind
something constructive to work with. Now write this affirmation
down, and repeat it to yourself several times a day for at least
three to four weeks.
Of course, besides affirming the statement, you also need to use
your common sense and take the necessary step to help you towards
your goal, such as regular exercise and healthy eating if weight
loss is your goal. Remember, the mind is a powerful tool, and affirmations
can be a key factor in success because they help replace sabotaging
negative self talk with optimism, goal setting and positive resolve.
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ALCHEMY
The term alchemy, commonly believe to attempts to change base metals into
gold, covers a wide range of topics - from the discovery of a single cure
for all diseases to the quest for immortality, from the creation of artificial
life to straightforward descriptions of scientific techniques. Broadly,
one could describe alchemy as the art of converting that whic is base,
both in the material and spiritual world, into something more prefect.
Symbolically, alchemy is the mystical art for human spiritual transformations
into a higher form of being.
The spiritual teachings of alchemy were based on the idea that humans
have a spirit or soul as well as a physical body, and it was thought that
if the spirit could be compressed or concentrated, the secret of changing
one aspect of nature into another could be discovered. The elusive catalyst
that allowed this change to take place is known as the philosophers stone,
which is not a stone but a powder or liquid that turned base metal into
gold and, when swallowed, gave everlasting life.
Alchemists are often pictured as stirring a bubbling concoction of base
metal on a fire, hoping it will turn into gold. However, not all alchemists
were like this, and some of the best minds of the last twenty or so centuries
have studied alchemy as a way to unlock the secrets of nature.
Alchemy probably first emerged in ancient Egypt and China. In China it
was purported to transmute base metals into gold, and the gold so produced
was thought to have the ability to cure disease and prolong life. In Egypt
the methods of transmutation were kept secret by temple priests. Western
alchemy has its basis in the skills of those Egyptian priests, Eastern
mysticism and the Aristotelian theory of the composition of matter. Aristotle,
following the theory of Empedocles, taught that all matter was composed
of four elements: water, fire, earth and air. Different materials found
in nature contained different ratios of these four elements, and so by
proper treatment the base metal could be turned to gold.
In the eighth and ninth centuries, Chinese, Greek, and Alexandrian alchemical
lore entered the Arab world. Arabian alchemists postulated that all metals
were composed not of four elements but of two: sulphur and mercury. They
also adopted the Chinese alchemists concept of a philosophers stone -
a medicine that could turn a sick [base] metal into gold and act as the
E1 or elixir of life - and so begun a never ending quest for this elusive
catalyst.
Arab alchemical treatises were popular in the Middle Ages. Indirectly,
through Arabic, Greek manuscripts were translated into Latin, and alchemical
explanations of the nature of matter can be found in the treatises of
such scholars as Albertus Magnus [c.1200-1280] ad Roger Bacon [c.1214-1292].
Before the scientific revolution, alchemists were respected figures on
the European scene, and Kings and nobles often supported them in the hope
of increasing their revenue [a little like the situation we face now in
regard to pharmaceutical companies ???] but among the sincere were charlatans
and swindlers, and their fraudulent activities led to alchemy getting
a bad name. Even as late as 1783 a chemist called John Price claimed he
had turned mercury into gold. When he was asked by the Royal Society to
perform the experiment in public, he reluctantly agreed. On the appointed
day, however, he drank some poison and died in front of the invited audience.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many practical alchemists,
like Paracelsus, the first European to mention zinc and the use the word
'alcohol', turned from trying to make gold towards preparing medicine.
The story is told of a seventeenth century chemist who claimed he had
the found the elixir of life in the waters of a mineral spring. This substance
has since been identified as the laxative sodium sulphate.
After the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, alchemy became
marginalised, and interest in the transmutation became limited to astrologers
and numerologists. Nevertheless, the scientific facts that had been accumulated
by alchemists in their search for gold because the basis for modern chemistry.
In the West, interest in the spiritual dimension of alchemy was rekindles
in the mid-twentieth century through the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung
on alchemical spirituality.
Today genuine alchemists see the universe as a unity and believe that
by exploring the infinite workings of its parts they can better understand
the whole. The symbolism of turning base metal into gold represents exactly
what they are trying to do within themselves - refine themselves spiritually
- and it could be said that alchemists are simply taking a more scientific
approach to the age old quest of 'know thyself'.
ALTERED STATES
OF CONSCIOUSNESS [ASC] The term 'altered state of consciousness' was
coined by parapsychologist Charles Tart [b.1937], and it refers to a shift
in the pattern of consciousness or normal waking state, for example during
hypnosis, trance or dream state, when the conscious mind is subdued and
the unconscious takes over.
States of consciousness take place in four levels of brain wave activity:
beta, alpha, theta and delta. Beta level is complete waking consciousness.
Alpha level is where material from the subconscious is available to the
mind, as in meditation or day dreaming. The theta level is equivalent
to light sleep, as state of unconsciousness in which one is vaguely aware
of what is going on around one. The delta level is deep sleep.
Many ASCs can be differentiated, ranging from dreaming to trance to mystical
states of consciousness, such as that experienced during shamanic state.
ASCs can occur spontaneously or can be induced through disciplines such
as Yoga, Zen and other forms of meditation, prayer and magical techniques.
They can also be induced through chanting, dancing, fasting, sex, hypnosis,
trauma and sleep deprivation.
Orthodox science largely rejects the experiences and knowledge gained
from ASCs, many of which are intensely spiritual in nature, but scientific
research has been effective in the areas of dreams, meditation, biofeedback
and drug-induced states. Laboratory tests since the early 1950s on ASC
induced techniques such as relaxation, hypnosis and meditation have also
been show to enhance psi function, especially extrasensory perception
[or ESP].
ALTERNATIVE
MEDICINE Medical or health practice based on unconventional principles,
methods, theory, practice, treatments and knowledge - unconventional in
that they are not in line with standard, traditional or orthodox medical
practice and scientific beliefs. If the alternative therapy is offered
alongside orthodox medicine it is called complementary medicine.
Alternative medicine is often [but not always] based upon metaphysical
belief. Some of the most popular alternative techniques that incorporate
metaphysical beliefs include acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, body
cleansing, bodywork, chelation therapy, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy,
energy medicine, electro - diagnosis, herbalism, holistic medicine, homeopathy,
iridology, macrobiotics, naturopathy, osteopathy, polarity therapy, psychic
healing, reflexology, Reiki, Rolfing, subliminal tapes, therapeutic touch
and traditional Chinese medicine.
APPARITION The supernatural appearance of a person, animal or object
too far away to be seen felt or heard by normal senses. Contrary to popular
belief, most apparitions are of the living not the dead, but apparitions
of the dead are also called ghosts.
Only a small number of apparitions are visual; most apparition experiences
feature noises, unusual smells, extreme cold or heat and the displacement
of objects.
Every civilization and throughout history from around the world has held
beliefs about apparitions. Among Asian peoples belief in ancestral ghosts
is strong, and rituals exist to hone and placate them, as the spirits
of the loved ones are thought to interfere regularly in the affairs of
the living and are credited for both good and bad fortune. The ancient
Hebrews, Greeks and Romans believed that spirits of the dead could return
to haunt the living.
During the Dark Ages people believed in all manner of apparitions: daemons,
vampires and devil dogs. Around this time the Christian Church taught
that ghosts were soul trapped in purgatory until the expedited their sins,
the only apparitions that were whole and permitted by God were apparitions
of religious figures, such angels, saints and Jesus. All other apparitions,
including spirits of the dead, were delusions created by Satan to confuse
the living.
In seventeenth century Europe apparitions of the dead played an important
role as advisors to the living. Belief in ghosts fell out of favour in
the eighteenth century returning in the nineteenth with spiritualism,
which espouses survival after death and mediumistic contact with the dead.
Many motifs of apparitions appear in the folklore of different cultures,
such as the Flying Dutchman or the Ankou.
According to a study of apparitions by American psychical researcher Hornell
Hart, published in 1956, there is no significant difference between apparitions
of the living and of the dead. Apparitions can move through solid matter
and appear and disappear abruptly. They can cast shadows. Some are corporeal
and lifelike in their movement and speech while others are luminous or
limited in movement and speech. Apparitions are typically dressed in clothing
of their time. The majority of apparitions are thought to manifest for
a reason, for instance, to communicate a crisis or death, give a warning,
offer comfort or convey important information. Some haunting apparitions
appear in places where emotional traumas have taken place, such as murders
or battles, but other haunting seem to be aimless.
Systematic studies of apparitions began with the Society for Psychical
Research, London, in the late nineteenth century. By the 1980s polls in
the United States conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion
Research Council showed a dramatic increase - around 78 per cent - in
reported apparitions, perhaps due in part to changing public attitudes
towards acknowledging paranormal experiences.
Although many ghost investigators have their own categories, the following
are the most typical:
Crisis
apparitions: usually images that appear in moments of crisis to communicate
death or danger.
They typically appear to a person who has close emotional
ties to the agent [the person who is the source of the apparition].
Apparitions of the dead: manifestations of someone who has died,
usually within a short time of death, to comfort a loved one or communicate
important information.
Collective apparitions: manifestations of the living or dead
that occur to multiple witnesses.
Approximately one third of reported
apparitions are witnessed collectively.
Reciprocal apparitions: apparitions of the living in which both
agent and the receipient [the person who experiences the apparition].
Separated by distance, experience apparitions of each other simultaneously
Deathbed apparitions visual images of divine beings, religious
figures and dead loved ones that are reported by the dying in the last
moments of life
Apparitions in cases of suggestive of reincarnation cases when
the deceased appears in a dream to a member of the family in to which
it will be reborn. Such dreams occur frequently among Native American
tribes of the Northwest and in Turkey, Burma and Thailand.
A large number
of theories have been put forward to explain apparitions, but none explain
all the different types. Society for Psychical Research founders Edmund
Gurney and Frederick Myers at first believed apparitions were mental hallucinations
that had no physical reality, either produced by telepathy from the dead
to the living or projected out of the percipient to others around him
or her. However, telepathy among the living does not explain why witnesses
in collective sightings notice different details.
Myers, who believed strongly in survival after death, began to doubt the
telepathic theory as early as 1885. In his landmark book 'Human Personality
and Its Survival after Death' (1903), he suggested that the apparitions
consisted of a 'phantasmogenic centre', a locus of energies that could
be perceived by the most psychically sensitive people. He conceived of
a 'subliminal consciousness', as the basis from which the consciousness
springs and which survives the body after death. He theorized that the
subliminal consciousness was receptive to extrasensory input and that
apparitions appeared to psychically receptive people.
Other theories that have been advanced subsequently about apparitions
suggest they are:
Idea
patterns or etheric images produced by the subconscious mind of the
living
Astral or etheric bodies of the agents
An amalgam of personality patterns, which in the case of hauntings are
trapped on a psychic or psi field
Projections of the human unconscious, a manifestation of an unacknowledged
need or guilt
Vehicles through which the 'I', the thinking consciousness, takes on
a personality as well as a visible form
Projections of will and concentration: see thought form
True spirits of the dead
Localised physical phenomena directed by an intelligence or personality
An additional
viewpoint put forward by others is that apparitions are recordings or
imprints of vibrations impressed upon some sort of psychic either. In
Eastern mystical philosophy, the cosmos is permeated by a substance called
the Akasha. Oxford philosopher H.H Price called this substance 'psychic
ether', a term adopted by some psychical researchers to suggest that if
all events are recorded on some invisible substance, then perhaps psychically
tuned people can get glimpses of these records and get a playback. For
more details see Akashic Records.
It is unlikely
that any one theory can explain all apparitions, and it is conceivable
that some apparitions are created by the living, that some have their
own reality, that some are hallucinations and that some are psychic recordings.
Twentieth century psychical researcher Andrew Mackenzie suggested that
the ability to have hallucinations could be a function of personality.
In his studies he found that one third of cases occurred just before or
after sleep, or when the percipient was woken in the night. Other experiences
took place when the witness was in a state of relaxation or doing routine
works such as housework, or concentrating on some activity such as reading
a book. Only when the external world was shut out was the unconscious
able to release impressions, which sometimes took the form of an apparition.
English psychical researcher G. Tyrrell also made this link between dreamlike
states and sightings of apparitions. Tyrell theorised that there were
two stages in a hallucinatory experience. In stage one the witness unconsciously
experiences the apparition, and in stage two the information from stage
one is processed from the unconscious in dreams or hallucinations with
the required details added, such as clothing and objects.
APPLIED PSI Also known as applied parapsychology and psionics,
applied psi is a branch of parapsychology that assumes psychic ability
exits and seeks ways to apply it in everyday life.
Applied psi is used today when anyone acts on his or her intuition to
make a decision. Experimental studies of applied psi date back to the
eighteenth century, but it wasn't until the twentieth century that the
discipline was seriously explored. In 1963 the Newark College of Engineering
in New Jersey became one of the first engineering centres in the US to
explore psi ability in people. Researchers found that successful people
use psi and precognition daily in their jobs in the form of intuition,
hunches and gut feelings. In the early 1980s American parapsychologist
Jeffrey Mishlove urged parapsychologists to assume that psi existed and
to focus on ways to use it in everyday life. By 1984 applied psi did become
an informal part of a number of fields, including archaeology, agriculture,
executive decision-making, scientific discovery, military intelligence,
criminal investigations and weather predictions. However, over subsequent
years the erratic nature of psi made it an unreliable tool.
Some experiments raised interesting questions as to how effective applied
psi can be when it comes to making financial investments. It is not uncommon
for people to place a bet or buy and sell stock on gut instinct. Experiments,
such as one conducted by the St Louis Business Journal in 1982, compared
the results of a group of experienced brokers with a psychic. The stocks
picked by the brokers fell in value, but the ones picked by the psychic
rose. Despite such successes, however, widespread use of applied psi in
the stock market has never materialised - if it did it would probably
spell the end of the stock market, thriving as it does on unpredictability
and chance.
ARCHEYPES
Psychiatrist Carl Jung first used this term in 1919 to refer to apparently
universal images which are inherited from our ancestors. Archetypes are
unconscious instinctual patterns of mental images that are passed down
to us all but are modified according to individual experience. Interpretations
of archetype images have been applied in many fields, such as past life
therapy, psychotherapy, tarot, women's studies, mythology, astrology,
the healing professions and even sales and marketing.
According to Jung, archetypes are unlimited in number and created by the
repetition of experiences that are imprinted on the psychic mind. When
a situation occurs that corresponds to an archetype, the archetype is
triggered and instinct takes over. God, death, birth, power, magic, the
sun, the moon, the wind, animals and the elements are all archetypes,
as are the figures of the hero, the lover, the judge, the child, the mother
and the father. Archetypes develop and change as an individual grows and
encounters new situations, archetypes communicate with the conscious mind,
and it is possible to gain insight into oneself by paying attention to
the archetypal forces at a particular time in ones life. Jung believed
that archetypes were psychic forces that demand to be taken seriously:
if neglected they could lead to compulsion, neurosis and illness.
Jung thought that the existence of archetypes could be proved through
dreams and through imagination, and by understanding your dreams you learn
what you need to move forward with your life.
ARRIVAL CASES
The appearance of a person before their actual arrival. Frequently the
arriving phantom appears in the same clothing the individual is wearing
at the same time. The individual is usually not aware of appearing in
a distant location until told about it.
Arrival cases were collected and studied by the founders of the Society
for Psychical Research in the early twentieth century. They collected
their evidence in their exhaustive survey 'Phantasms of the Living' [1918].
Arrivals have claimed to eat, sleep and seem so real that anyone could
believe it was a double [doppelganger] of the real person. The most likely
explanation of arrival cases is that the individual somehow projects a
double, which is perceived as real, perhaps as an out of body projection
[bilocation] or as a psychic projection of inherent desire to be in that
different place. Other researchers think that arrival cases are a quirk
of time duplicating itself.
ASTRAL BODY Various esoteric traditions talk about the many bodies
- the different levels of consciousness and existence - that each person
has. Some people think of these different aspects as 'subtle bodies' or
selves that exist in a parallel plane but are all part of a larger consciousness.
This theory suggests that the body itself does not contain these aspects.
Rather, this larger consciousness contains the body, as well as other
levels of existence, and you can learn to create a closer connection to
any of these aspects within yourself.
A commonly recognised 'extra' self is the astral body. The word 'astral'
is derived from the Greek for 'star'. The astral body can also be called
a double or doppelganger, because it is a duplicate of the physical body.
Theosophists refer to it as the 'etheric' or 'spiritual double' containing
the soul and made from the vibrations that make the up physical body.
The astral body is thought to exist on the astral plane, also known as
the astral realm, astral world or astral sphere, and in metaphysical terminology
the astral plane is contiguous in space, if not in time, with the material
world. The astral realm is the one that the spiritual part or astral body
enters during periods of sleep, under the action of anaesthetics or drugs,
by accident when a person is unconscious, or immediately after death.
The astral realm is not normally visible to ordinary sight, yet it is
regarded as the proper dwelling of people's higher spiritual bodies.
According to shamans and Theosophists the astral body or second self resembles
the physical body but is made up of a subtle field of shining and flexible
light that encases the body, visible only by a psychically sensitive person.
It is thought that when you are sleeping the astral body can separate
from the physical body, which results on flying dreams and the experience
of disorientation experienced if you wake suddenly and the astral body
hasn't had time to line up with the physical one. Driven by emotions,
passions and desires, the astral body is believed to be a bridge between
the physical brain and a higher level of mind.
ASTRAL PLANE
According to occultists the astral plane is an alternate and non-physical
dimension of reality that can be visited during astral projection or out
of body experiences. The word 'astral', from the Greek word meaning 'star,
described the heavens of the Greek gods, but as time passed the concept
expanded to refer to a spirit world inhabited by etheric entities, disembodied
spirits and higher beings.
The astral world is believed to be invisible to the ordinary eye because
it vibrates at a higher rate than the energy that comprises the material
world. However, occultists believe that it can be perceived through astral
projection and clairvoyance and it is a world just as real as ours. It
has scenery, inhabitants, countries and seas and is subject to laws of
nature and constant change just as the physical world is.
Modern psychologists argue that accounts of trips to a strange and alien
dimension spring from the imagination, but according to occult theory
the astral plane is undeniably real. It is an invisible level of reality
between the physical plane and the divine realms where communication with
higher beings can be established and where the individuals thought forms
take on a reality.
ASTRAL PROJECTION
/ ASTRAL TRAVEL The astral body is believed to be capable of a very
special type of travel. While leaving the physical body at rest, it can
get up, walk around and look at its physical body, explore its surroundings
and journey to new places. What makes this experience unique is that you
are fully conscious and in control throughout the experience.
This process of consciously leaving the body and travelling free of physical
constrains it often referred to as astral projection or astral travel.
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, experts define astral
projection as becoming aware that your consciousness is separate from
your physical body. For instance, people describe floating above themselves
and viewing their bodies during astral projection. With astral travel
an individual uses this conscious awareness to experience a sense of flying
to new, non-physical or physical realms.
How the mind disconnects from its everyday type of consciousness and separates
from the body remains a mystery. Experts agree that having a relaxed focus,
such as in meditation or when you are just about to fall asleep, helps
you to reach that stage, as concentrating too hard on achieving the experience
may interfere with the process.
Getting
started on the astral travellers path
Like any
skill, astral travel takes time and practise, and it is difficult
to prove what actually happens, but those experienced in astral
travel tell fascinating stories of their experiences. Some travel
to secret realms where they meet spirit guides and spend hours researching
ancient texts. When they wake up, their clocks show that only a
few minutes have passed.
So for you
to get started try the following exercises:
While relaxing, imagine your astral body positioned just
in front or above you in the exact position of your physical body.
Take note of how your astral body looks. Check out the back
of your and body and parts of your body you cant normally see.
Allow your consciousness to move into your astral body and
look at your surrounding from this new perspective.
Ponder what you would like to do next and where you would
like to go. You may want to visit a place or a person who is normally
far away, through a process called targeting. This can be done by
focusing on the image of the location or the persons face, then
seeing it at the end of a tunnel until you arrive at the desired
place or the intended person.
When you are ready to return, think yourself back into your
physical body, and move your body until you feel comfortable back
in it.
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ATLANTIS The
name of a vast island continent and the many civilisations that flourished
upon it that sank under the sea in a cataclysm. At least fifty locations
around the globe have been proposed as sites of the lost continent, but
no proof has ever been found of its existence.
There are numerous legends about the Atlanteans and how their highly advanced
civilization was destroyed by their misuse of power, but the story was
first recorded by Plato in around 350 BC. Plato described the Atlanteans
as a wealthy, successful, politically advanced and military powerful society
that overran Europe with it armies before being defeated by the Greeks.
Shortly afterwards an earthquake caused Atlantis to sink beneath the ocean.
The modern myth of Atlantis began 1882 with the publication of 'Atlantis:
The Antediluvian World' by former American congressman Ignatius Donnelly.
Donnelly proposed that Atlantis might be located in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean, to serve as a bridge and source of culture to other areas
around the globe.
Numerous other theories have been put forth. The Atlanteans have been
linked to the Titans of Greek mythology, the first race of beings on earth
who came from the sea and possessed the power to create thunderbolts,
earthquakes and terrestrial disturbances. Madame Blavatsky, mystic and
co founder of the Theosophical Society, believed that Atlantis was located
in the North Atlantic Ocean and that the Atlanteans were psychically developed
descendants from another legendary lost continent, Lemuria. The Lemurians
migrated to Atlantis when their own continent was destroyed. In 'The History
of Atlantis' [1926], Lewis Spencer, who founded and edited The Atlantis
Quarterly, a journal reporting on Atlantean and occult studies, concluded
that Atlantis existed on both sides of the Atlantic and was the means
of dissemination of culture from East to West.
Another medium Edgar Cayce believed Atlantis was located at Bimini, one
of the Bahaman Islands off the coast of Florida. Cayce said that the Atlanteans
had misused the forces of nature and destroyed their own continent and
that in subsequent reincarnations Atlanteans exhibited the same potentially
destructive traits.
Of all the worlds unsolved mysteries, that of the lost continent of Atlantis
is probably the biggest, exerting influence over humankind for thousands
of years. Even though centuries have passed, and scientists and scholars
seem intent on banishing it to obscurity, however interest in the fabled
continent has not diminished and probably never will.
AURA The name given to the subtle envelope of vital energy that
is thought to radiate round natural objects, including human beings, animals
and plants. The colours and forms of each aura are believed to be characteristic
of the person, animal or thing it surrounds and to fluctuate and shift
according to mood and state of health.
The aura is normally invisible, but it can be seen by clairvoyants as
a halo of light and colour. Two clairvoyants viewing the same aura might
see different colours or interpret it in different ways. State of health
and a persons emotions show up as difference in colours and energy patterns
or breaks in aura. Physical illness seems related to the part of the aura
that is closest to the body, often called the etheric body. Some psychics
see the aura as a psychic screen for the projection of information, past,
present and future.
Although the body does have a magnetic field- a biofield - there is no
scientific evidence that auras exist [kileran photography doubt about
such a definitive statement??????] however the belief that the human body
emits radiations of a kind that in certain circumstances become visible
has been encountered for centuries and was present in ancient Egypt, India,
Greece and Rome. In the sixteenth century, discourses on the astral body
and its 'fiery aura' abound, and in the eighteenth century the theory
of animal magnetism was developed by Anton Mesmer, who promoted a variety
of scientific experiments to try to identify the phenomenon.
Just before World War I, Dr Walter Kilner from St Thomas's Hospital in
London developed a method to view auras, which he claimed appears as a
faint haze around the body, using an apparatus that rendered ultraviolet
light visible. His theory of auric diagnosis of illness linked the appearance
of an aura to a patient's health. Kilners work was greeted with scepticism
and interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities. In 1939, Semyon Davidovich
Kirlian, a Russian electrician, developed a technique that he claimed
recorded auras on film, but this technique remains to be verified.
Auras, like parking places, are easy to find when you aren't looking for
them, so if you want to see an aura, you need to feel as relaxed and calm
as possible. Then instead of looking directly at someone, look straight
past them and casually glance in their direction, allowing your eyes to
loose focus. The ideas is to trick your rational brain by deliberately
putting a lot of your concentration on something else, but to keep a vague
focus on the person whose aura you want to read.
With practise you may see a dim haze of energy around someone. Keep breathing
deeply, and the aura may brighten to a colour. Don't expect people to
light up like a Christmas tree and stay that way. Visions of auras tend
to be lightening quick, but the more you practise the more natural it
will feel and the more likely it is for colour to become noticeable.
AUTOMATIC WRITING
The most common for of automatism automatic writing is writing that
does not come from the conscious mind and is done in an altered state
of consciousness. Some attribute it to spiritual beings who are somehow
able to manipulate a writing utensil in order to communicate. Psychical
researchers believe automatic writing emanates from material in the persons
subconscious mind or is obtained through ESP.
Many people try automatic writing in an effort to make contact with spirits
or to communicate with the dead. Typically the writers is unaware of what
is being written and the writing is much faster, larger and expansive
than their normal handwriting. Some people experience tingling in the
arms or hands. Pens are a common tool, but slates and typewriters may
also be used. Automatic writers have been known to produce mirror scripts,
starting at the bottom right of the page and finishing at the top left.
At the height of spiritualism automatic writing was common in séances,
and it replaced the much slower methods of spelling out messages from
spirits with table rapping's and pointers.
In some cases automatic writing occurs involuntarily. Through automatic
writing, mediums have claimed to produce messages not just from deceased
relatives or loved ones but from famous persons in history, but one of
the founders of the Society for Psychical Research found little evidence
that spirits communicated through automatic writing but, curiously, after
his death several mediums claimed to receive automatic writing messages
from him.
While psychical researchers continue to investigate automatic writing
as evidence for the existence of the spirit world, the field of psychology
has adopted automatic writing. Psychologists use it as a way for the unconscious
mind to express thoughts and feelings that cannot be verbalised. Automatic
writing continues to be used as a therapeutic tool to this day. Some critics
warn of dangers of automatic writing - they claim that the writer is vulnerable
to harassment from the evil minded dead. However, psychologists maintain
that the real dander is in exposing material from the unconscious that
has been repressed.
ONLINE
DISCUSSION GROUPS
The General
Discussion Group
was created for people who have read, attended courses
or worked with Steven and his colleagues. It is ALSO open to people who
have not attended courses or read written resources and will encourage
them in their personal as well as professional life. To explore and, if
it appeals for you, join the general discussion group
The
Professional Discussion Group
.
Some of Steven and his colleagues have created an online resource to support
them in their work given that due to the nature of their international contacts
the Internet offers an excellent way of easily keeping in contact and up
to date. If you would like to explore and if it relates and will support
your professional work
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