Perhaps the ideal way to experiment with a ghost would be to bring it into the laboratory, where its physical and psychological aspects could be studied under controlled conditions. While it is clearly not possible to do so, some parapsychologists have attempted the next best thing: to artificially produce an apparition that can be experienced by a witness in the lab. To do that, parapsychologists have made use of a custom-built chamber called a psychomanteum.
The psychomanteum (Greek for "theater of the mind") is a darkened room that is designed to induce apparition-like experiences through the process of scrying (gazing into a reflective surface). Its origins derive from Greek mythology, in which people would often journey to special locations (such as the oracle at Delphi) to hold audience with the gods through visions seen in reflective pools of oil or water. Sometimes, they would also see images of their deceased ancestors within those reflective visions. Dr. Raymond Moody (1992; Moody & Perry, 1993), a psychiatrist with a deep interest in Greek history, adopted the idea and created his own modern-day version of the psychomanteum in the early 1990s as a technique for bereavement and grief counseling.
Dr. Moody's technique generally proceeded as follows: The witness would first be asked to select a deceased friend or relative with whom they wished to have a visionary reunion in the psychomanteum. Prior to the actual session, extensive discussion was held between the witness and Dr. Moody about the deceased person, their relationship with the witness, and the witness' motivations for wanting to have a reunion with that person. The witness shared photographs and objects that had once belonged to the deceased person, and discussed their significance to help them remember and reconnect with that person. Towards dusk, the witness was shown into the psychomanteum, and was instructed to relax in a comfortable chair while gazing passively into a large mirror hanging on the wall a few feet across from the chair, which was angled upward to reflect the darkness. After some time had passed, the witness was brought out of the psychomanteum and discussion was held about what he or she had experienced while mirror-gazing. According to Dr. Moody (1992), about half of the people who underwent his psychomanteum technique reported seeing apparitions of the dead in the mirror.
Other researchers using the psychomanteum have had varying degrees of success in producing reunion experiences. Drs. Dean Radin and Jannine Rebman (1996) report that just over half (four, or 57%) of the seven witnesses who spent time in their electronically-monitored psychomanteum had sensed the presence .... (read more here - http://publicparapsychology.blogspot.com/2009/11/apparitional-experiences-primer_23.html)
Reflections of life (Psychomanteum) Mirror Gazing
Andy Lakey's Psychomanteum: Spiritual Journeys Guided by Art, Angels and Miracles
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TAL welcomes Lon Strickler to the Favorites TAB - thanks Lon AND TAL fans - Lon tells me that he has added the NEW TAL to his great blogroll at http://naturalplane.blogspot.com/ - the new TAL blogroll is coming.
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Don't only read the sanitized stuff - sometimes one needs a dose of SHTF - Food bubble collapse threatens survival of human civilization - http://whentheshtf.blogspot.com/2011/01/food-bubble-collapse-threatens-survival.html - plus six other worrisome links.
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Is Vissarion Jesus Christ? - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vissarion and http://www.vissarion.eu/en/
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Thanks for visiting today.
