THE SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES OF CLAIMANT MEDIUMS

A dissertation presented to

the Faculty of Saybrook University in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Psychology

by

William G. Everist

San Francisco, California

August 2015

© 2015 William G. Everist

Approval of the Dissertation

THE SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES OF CLAIMANT MEDIUMS

This dissertation by William G. Everist has been approved by the committee members below, who recommend it be accepted by the faculty of Saybrook University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology

Dissertation Committee:

______________________________ _____________________ Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., Chair Date

______________________________ _____________________ Claire Frederick, Ph.D. Date

______________________________ _____________________ Julie Beischel, Ph.D. Date

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Abstract

THE SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES OF CLAIMANT MEDIUMS

William G. Everist

Saybrook University

This dissertation describes a qualitative study that was designed to establish a

comprehensive understanding of the initial experience associated with the spiritual

transformation process of the inexperienced claimant medium. The claimant medium is

commonly described as an individual who allegedly has regular communications with the

deceased. Spiritually Transformative Experiences are commonly thought to be a type of

transformation and expansion of consciousness. Often referred to as psychic openings,

these experiences have occasionally been described as being startling or traumatic,

sometimes creating a loss of contact with consensual reality that may possibly lead to

psychiatric misdiagnosis in the individual’s search for an understanding of the

experience. Consequently, the desired outcome of this study was to establish a better

understanding of the initial psychic opening and propose a more reasoned approach to its

acknowledgement and development by the scientific community. A five-part review of

the background literature in the field of study focused on a history of the research and

practice of mediumship, an archival biographical analysis of the psychic opening, the

proposed psycho-spiritual emergence process, the child’s perspective of his or her

spiritual development process, and the subsequent development of the medium’s

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purported abilities. Six participants for this study were selected from a group of certified

research mediums pre-screened for their abilities by the Windbridge Institute for Applied

Research in Human Potential in Tucson, Arizona. A semi-structured questionnaire in

compliance with Saybrook Institutional Review Board oral history specifications was

utilized as the primary research instrument to provide biographical accountability.

However, additional written documentation of the experience was included when

appropriate to further clarify the psychological impact of the psychic opening. A thematic

analysis of the data revealed that the participants’ transformative experiences consist of a

sequence of developmental experiences that include an encounter with a single or

multiple spiritual entities that one may or may not consider as spirit guides. Depending

upon the age of the participant and the existing social support system at the time of the

initial experience, the spiritual encounter can be either fearfully traumatic or merely an

anomalistic variation of the individual’s concept of reality.

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Table of Contents

List of Tables ................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION........................................................................................1 Background ..........................................................................................................................1 Rationale ..............................................................................................................................2 Research Question ...............................................................................................................2 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE.......................................................................3 Mediumship .........................................................................................................................3

Overview of mediumship.........................................................................................3 Conventional mediumship .................................................................................3 Contemporary mediumship................................................................................6

The practice of mediumship.....................................................................................7 Research on mediumship. ........................................................................................9

The societies for psychical research ..................................................................9 Quantitative research .......................................................................................10 J.B. Rhine and the Duke Laboratory................................................................13 Post-Rhine efforts at mediumship research .....................................................16 Contemporary mediumship research ...............................................................17 The super-psi dilemma.....................................................................................26 Qualitative research .........................................................................................29

A Biographic Perspective of the Psychic Opening ............................................................35 The psychic opening ..............................................................................................36 Biographic experiences of the psychic opening.....................................................37

The Spiritual Transformation Process ...............................................................................41 The spectrum of disturbances in spiritual transformation......................................42 Transformational turbulence..................................................................................43 Assagioli’s influence on Grof ................................................................................46 Pathways to transformation....................................................................................48

Spiritual Transformation in Childhood..............................................................................51 Acknowledgement and Application of Mediumistic Abilities ..........................................53

Implementation of the spiritual problem................................................................53 The importance of psycho-spiritual emergence and development ........................56

Concluding Thoughts.........................................................................................................59 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................61 Choice of Method ..............................................................................................................61 Participants and Selection Process.....................................................................................64 Procedure ...........................................................................................................................65 Instruments or Research Interviews...................................................................................65 Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................66 Limitations, Delimitations, and Research Issues ...............................................................67 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS...................................................................................................69 Initial Experience and Age of Experience .........................................................................70

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Description of, Reaction to, and Concerns about the Experience......................................71 Variance from Reality........................................................................................................73 Sharing the Experience and Associated Level of Comfort ................................................74 Support Group and Supportive Atmosphere......................................................................78 Religious or Spiritual Background.....................................................................................79 Coping with the Experience...............................................................................................81 Further Development .........................................................................................................82 Additional Item and Spirit Guides .....................................................................................84 Summation of Results ........................................................................................................86 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION.............................................................................................88 The Spectrum of Spiritually Transformative Experiences.................................................89 The Supportive Environment.............................................................................................90 Spirit Guides ......................................................................................................................93 Implications........................................................................................................................94 Limitations and Delimitations............................................................................................96 Internal and External Validity............................................................................................96 Implications for Future Research.......................................................................................97 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................99 APPENDICES

A. Interview Questions ........................................................................................110 B. Consent Form ..................................................................................................111 C. Participants’ Textual Descriptions ..................................................................114

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List of Tables

Table 1. Participants’ Initial Experiences .........................................................................71 Table 2. Description of, Reaction to, and Concerns about the Experience.......................72 Table 3. Variance from Reality.........................................................................................73 Table 4. Sharing the Experience and Associated Level of Comfort .................................76 Table 5. Support Group or Supportive Atmosphere .........................................................79 Table 6. Religious or Spiritual Background......................................................................80 Table 7. Coping with the Experience................................................................................82 Table 8. Further Development ..........................................................................................83 Table 9. Spirit Guide Involvement....................................................................................85

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Chapter 1: Introduction

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the initial experience of the

spiritual transformation process and successive related experiences of the developing

claimant medium. Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs) have been described as

being a portion of a transformation and expansion of consciousness (Kason, 2008).

Sometimes considered a psychic opening or awakening, these transformative experiences

vary in intensity and duration, with some people having mild effects, while others have

described them as being startling and even traumatic (S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989a, 1989b;

Kason, 2008). Still others, concerned that they are losing touch with reality, may seek

psychiatric care in their search to understand and address their experiences. Of these

individuals, some risk or may even experience misdiagnosis, aggressive treatment, and

hospitalization in their quest for relief and understanding. Consequently, this study was

designed to establish a better understanding of the experiences that initiate the spiritual

transformation process and propose a more reasoned approach to their acknowledgement

and development.

Background

In order to examine the initial experiential phenomena, this study reviews five

primary bodies of literature to establish a background orientation. The first body of

literature covers mediumship in order to establish a general context for the study. This

section discusses who mediums are, what they do, the history of the practice, and

previous research concerning mediumship. The second body of literature makes a

comparative biographical examination of the medium’s initial psychic experience,

examining this critical moment from the medium’s point of view, or that of their

biographer. The third body of literature addresses what some writers refer to as psycho-

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spiritual emergence and development to further examine the competencies that mediums

claim to possess. This section defines and discusses alleged psychic abilities and takes a

critical look at the nature of emergence and its associated risks. The fourth portion of

literature looks at the spiritual development process from the perspective of a child. The

final portion of the literature review examines the post-experience acknowledgement,

development, and application of the claimant medium’s alleged abilities.

Rationale

The impetus for this study originated from an interest in the crisis that some new

mediums may have when they first begin to experience anomalous phenomena and a

potential psychic opening. For example, some might begin to have bizarre thoughts or

graphic images that do not seem related to their own experiences. They might also find

themselves seemingly aware of what they perceive to be deceased or other-worldly

beings or the emotions, thoughts, or sensations of other individuals. Initial experiences

such as these may confuse and disorient these individuals, often leading them to believe

that they have either accidentally ingested a psychedelic substance or are on the edge of

insanity.

Research Question

This dissertation contends that an examination of the purported medium’s initial

anomalous experiences is needed in order to establish a more comprehensive

understanding of the alleged newly achieved level of conscious awareness. In order to

examine the phenomena, the research question centered on a detailed inquiry into the

nature of the first remembered anomalous experiences, designed to capture the essence of

its level of comfort in the percipient. Secondary questions traced further experiences in

the participants’ subsequent development of their alleged mental abilities.

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Chapter 2: Review of Literature

Mediumship

Overview of mediumship.

Conventional mediumship. From shamans and yogis to renowned religious

leaders, certain people within world societies have always been recognized as having the

ability to access non-ordinary states of consciousness (e.g., S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989a;

Kason, 2008; Tart, 2009). Mediums may be of any gender, sociocultural or psychological

designation, or sexual orientation (e.g., Krippner, 2006; Tart, 2009). They are individuals

who claim to regularly experience communications with the deceased (e.g., Beischel,

Mosher, & Boccuzzi, 2014-2015). A psychic, on the other hand, claims to regularly

experience information about or from living individuals, distant locations or significant

events in the present, past, or future. “It is often said that all mediums are psychics but

not all psychics are mediums” (p. 177).

The medium’s general purpose is to facilitate communication between living

individuals and discarnate beings (e.g., Gauld, 2012, Tart, 2009). Discarnate beings are

described as those who have passed over through bodily death, such as departed friends

and relatives, saints, folkloric deities, and so-called earthbound spirits (Krippner, 1994).

The individuals who report communication with these discarnate beings are

known as mental mediums (reviewed in Gauld, 2012) and maintain their contact with

spirits by way of an internal vision or hearing process. Contact experiences such as these

frequently involve putative telepathic communications from deceased relatives and

friends or contacts with discarnate men and women who, in general, seem to be anxious

to relay a message. The contents of these messages are usually addressed to the

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experiencer. However, the recipient may also be used as a channel to deliver the message

to other people.

Guggenheim and Guggenheim (1996) described examples of these alleged contact

experiences, also referred to as after-death communications (ADCs), as spontaneous

direct communications with deceased relatives or friends. Arcangel (2005) expanded the

concept, describing an after-life encounter as “any sense of being connected to, or in the

presence of, a discarnate entity” (p. 17). Tart (2009) further acknowledged the

experience, referring to ADCs as “spirits of the deceased that apparently appear to the

living” (p. 14).

The specific content of the communication may be to provide comfort and

reassurance; give advice or information; achieve closure; or to reduce anger, guilt, or

anxiety (e.g., Beischel et al., 2014-2015; Krippner, 2006). Accordingly, living individuals

who receive messages from deceased loved ones typically feel positive and rewarded by

the experience. A recent phenomenological study of ADC experiences by Drewry (2003)

found that her entire selection of 40 participants revealed “varying degrees of

spontaneous healing or resolution of grief” (p. 78). Furthermore, in Koss-Chioino’s

(1992) study of mediums working at a community mental health center in Puerto Rico,

the mediums described their role as helping to create a cosmic connection.

Although currently under conceptual modification (see Beischel & Zingrone,

2015), trance mediumship has also been investigated as another form of mediumship.

Stemming from the observations of early researchers in the Society for Psychical

Research, later recorded in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (see

Alvarado, 1998), trance states were associated with the utterance of verifiable statements

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made by mediums, such as Mrs. Leonora Piper during sittings in her séance room (e.g.,

Alvarado, 1998; Harris & Alvarado, 2014).

In trance mediumship, the medium enters into an altered state of consciousness

and allegedly accesses the deceased entity that allows intermediary communications with

the living individual (Krippner, 1994). Other explanations of trance mediumship have

stated that this condition may involve independent spirit guide entities, inner self-helpers,

sub-personalities or ego-states, imagination, or collective archetypal images (Krippner,

1994). According to James (1897), episodes of trance mediumship were usually periodic

and brief, lasting no more than an hour or two. The alleged medium was considered

entirely well throughout the episodes, showing no signs of illness or disorientation and

returning to an ordinary state of consciousness following the temporary communication

with no memory of the incident. Thus, he concluded, this condition differed from

insanity.

Bourguignon (1976) described possession trance as a state of altered

consciousness or awareness, with a change in the personality or will of the individual.

She further concluded “both possession trance and possession belief unrelated to trance

are extraordinarily widespread throughout the world among traditional and so-called

primitive peoples” (p. 31). Based on her examination of 488 societies throughout the

world, she found some type of possession belief in 360 (74%) of them. Spirit

embodiment (possession trance) was found in 251 (52%) of her sample societies.

Although some depictions of trance mediumship have suggested that the mediums

lack volitional control during these periods, experienced mediums in Koss-Chioino’s

(1992) study maintained that rather than feeling out of control, they sometimes actually

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capture their clients’ pains by experiencing their sensations in their own bodies. Some

mediums have described this experience as being filled with heat deep in their bodies.

During the 19th century, many Americans believed that communications with the

dead could be established through rapping and knocking, automatic speech, automatic

writing, displays of floating bodily fluid, table tipping, and slate writing (Taylor, 1999).

Known as physical mediumship, this alleged type of communication with the departed

was conducted through the manipulation of physical events in the vicinity of the

purported medium (reviewed in Gauld, 2012). Since the demonstration of these

communications usually took place within the context of mediumistic circles that

conducted séances in darkened environments, it didn’t take long for cynics to suggest that

the ambience of darkness was simply a cover for fraud.

Contemporary mediumship. According to Beischel and Zingrone (2015)

mediumship is currently thought to be divided into two categories: mental and physical

mediumship (detailed above), with each type capable of experiencing states of

consciousness that vary along a continuum from waking states to assorted trance states of

various depths and levels of dissociation. Consequently, rather than being considered as a

mediumistic category of its own, trance is currently thought of as a parametric paradigm

characteristic of the other two.

For the scholars of previous eras of mediumship (e.g., Alvarado, 1998; Harris &

Alvarado, 2014), it may have appeared that the mediumship phenomena took place in an

altered state of consciousness (detailed above). However, Alvarado (2010) suggested, the

term “trance” may be inherently problematic. “Not only has it been used to refer to a

variety of apparent states of consciousness, but we need to be aware that it may manifest

in degrees” (p. 198).

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Beischel, Rock, and Krippner (2011), have contested that since definitions of the

term consciousness may vary (i.e., consciousness as an “awareness” vs. consciousness as

phenomenological content) use of the term altered states of consciousness creates a basic

confusion of shifts in consciousness, with “shifts or deviations in the content of

consciousness” (p. 128). They suggested it would be better to substitute the term “altered

state of consciousness” with “altered patterns of phenomenal properties.” This, they

claimed, would subsequently also require the replacement of “altering consciousness”

with “altering phenomenology” (p. 128). Hence the potential expansion of research in

this area through the conceptual broadening and deepening of these terms (Beischel &

Zingrone, 2015).

The practice of mediumship. Mediumship has been the focus of both

professionalization and criticism over the years. Although the Christian churches

condoned private prayer, meditation, and mystical experiences, the Christian culture has

traditionally denounced the receipt of discarnate information by parishioners and

laypeople. James (1897) noted that Caldwell’s (1876) Contemporary Review article

equated trance mediumship with devil worship and pathology. However, James pointed

out that by 1896, public views had changed. He noted that although both the Old and

New Testaments in the Bible documented several instances of demon possession, “the

diabolic nature of demon possession now, has with us assumed a benign and optimistic

form, in which changed personality is considered the spirit of a departed being coming to

bring messages of comfort from the ‘sunny land’” (p. 87). In turn, James defended

mediumship and advocated for a balance between science and religion on the topic of

mediumship.

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More recently, mediums have been welcomed as members of medical and mental

health care teams in some cultures. One example is the community mental health center

in Cayey, Puerto Rico that opened in 1979 (Krippner, 1994). Here, mediums were

accepted as members of the team that included a physician, a psychologist, a social

worker, and (if needed) a psychiatrist. These professionals work independently and

together, as needed, to address clients’ mental, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Another example integrates the practice of conventional psychiatrists working in

association with Spiritist mediums in the Spiritist psychiatric hospitals of Brazil

(Bragdon, 2012). Based on the religious philosophy of French educator, Allan Kardec

(1856/2005, 1874/2008), when first established, several of these hospitals were managed

by Spiritists, without the collaboration of medical doctors. However, when psychiatry

became engaged with the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness from a biochemical

perspective in the late 1950s, Spiritist psychiatric hospitals began collaborating with

conventional psychiatrists in order to maintain a balance of contemporary medical

technology and spiritually based complementary care.

Claimant mediums have also been recruited in other fields. For example, when

faced with an extended duration of unsolved crimes, police agencies have occasionally

called upon mediums or other practitioners with alleged psychic skills for assistance (e.g.,

DuBois, 2004; Lyons & Truzzi, 1991; Radin, 1997). Although reports are mixed in

reference to whether it is common practice for detectives to use mediums as a last resort

in crime solving efforts (Arlington, 2010), Lyons and Truzzi (1991) indicated that alleged

mediums have been invited to lecture at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia and

other well-known law-enforcement organizations throughout the country.

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Research on mediumship.

The societies for psychical research. Research on mediumship began in the late

1800s with the formation of the Society for Psychical Research (e.g., Gauld, 2012; Tart,

2009). Founded in 1882 by several distinguished faculty members of Cambridge

University, the organization’s initial interest was in the systematic exploration of

discarnate communication and other alleged psychic phenomena (reviewed in Gauld,

2012) that claimed the possibility that the human personality could survive bodily death

and perhaps communicate with the living (Krippner, 2006). Two years later, William

James (e.g., Mishlove, 1993) was instrumental in forming the American Society for

Psychical Research. Both research societies gathered, logged and published numerous

anecdotal records of alleged ADCs by mediums (e.g., L. Rhine, 1981; Schouten, 1994). A

major portion of this material was included in Myers’ (1906) publication Human

Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death.

Mrs. Leonora Piper, discovered by William James, was perhaps the most

researched medium in the early history of both the British and American psychical

research societies (Gauld, 2012). Piper was assisted by a French doctor spirit guide,

named Phinuit, who came through in trance to provide accounts of the deceased. Having

been impressed with the sittings he experienced, James sent 25 other people to her

sessions under assumed names and recorded the observations of her performances in the

spring of 1886 as being both honest and genuine. Following James’ report, a leading

member of the British Society for Psychical Research, Richard Hodgson, came to Boston

and took charge of the investigation (Gauld, 2012). In spite of numerous attempts to

discover the use of fraud, including the discrete use of private investigators to trace her

routine daily activities, no indication of trickery was ever noticed.

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However, another prominent medium, Mrs. Gladys Osborne Leonard, initially

studied by Sir Oliver Lodge, had her source of information questioned (Gauld, 2012).

Assisted by Feda (an alleged young Indian girl trance spirit), in the later sessions of her

career Leonard was witnessed being interrupted by a whisper apparently coming from the

empty air in front of her. This “direct voice” was presumed to be coming from the

communicator, whose remarks Feda relayed and evidently, also corrected. Audio

recording devices available at the time were not able to determine if the source of the

voice was independent of Mrs. Leonard. However, the behavior was not able to escape

the curiosity of Lodge (1916) and other Society for Psychical Research investigators

(Newton, 1938), who suspected that she may be receiving information from other sources

than the deceased.

Quantitative research. Although these early anecdotal studies represented an

extensive collection of both verbal statement transcripts from the readings of various

alleged mediums and the associated interpretations and discussions of validity by the

contributing researchers, they were entirely descriptive in nature (e.g., Schouten, 1994).

Consequently, the subjective estimation of data significance became less acceptable to

the scientific community and it was replaced by the use of more sophisticated

quantitative methodologies and statistical evaluation.

Quantitative research has been referred to as a method of research used in

hypothesis-testing (e. g., Newman & Benz, 1998) that typically investigates the effects of

a treatment or intervention. The process begins with a hypothesis (or testable prediction)

that has been evolved from a theory statement (usually an explanation or conceptual

model of an idea) that is subsequently tested via an objective experimental design within

the scientific method (Gazzaniga, Heatherton, & Halpern, 2010). Typically a quantitative

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design would attempt to determine a resultant measurable effect or influence upon the

dependent variable from the designated treatment or intervention (independent variable)

in comparison to a neutral control condition. To support replication of the results, “one

experiment is usually conducted and statistical techniques are used to determine the

probability of the same differences occurring over and over again” (Newman & Benz,

1998, p. 19).

One extensive study, conducted by Saltmarsh (1929), examined the target

readings of Ms. Warren Elliott. All target persons were unknown to Ms. Elliott and in 53

of the sessions, the target person was present, but not identified; in 89 sessions the target

person was not present. While preparing his results for publication, Saltmarsh prefaced

his report with a detailed description of the “controlled study” he had intended to do. The

aim of the investigation, he claimed, was to test three different theories. The first

consideration was to address any possible explanations of results due to chance. The

second consideration addressed the possibility of information receipt via extra-sensory

capabilities, such as mind-to-mind communication between the sitter and the medium,

and the third option considered the possibility that the information was actually

communicated by the deceased individual. In order to test the question of chance,

Saltmarsh introduced the use of control individuals of similar background to the target

personnel, who would also numerically evaluate the assessment of accuracy in the

statements made by Mrs. Elliott.

Test results on the first two studies revealed that evaluative scores for the target

person were substantially higher than the scores for the control. This information led

Saltmarsh (1929) to consider this as being an indication that the medium possessed

information about the target person that was not available by normal means; therefore, he

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rejected chance as a possible explanation. He also rejected the third option, however, and

settled for the conclusion that there must be some sort of extra-sensory explanation for

Mrs. Elliott’s performance. Although Saltmarsh’s “control method” was considered a

step forward in the study of mediumship, it was criticized for some inherent weaknesses.

One acknowledged weakness (Schouten, 1994), was the possible introduction of bias via

his final judgment of statement correctness. Another criticism was the lack of statistical

assessment in results analysis.

Saltmarsh and Soal (1930) later did a follow-up study. Utilizing assistance from

statistician R.A. Fisher, they created a formula that established the probability of

significance in the comprehensive analysis of his experimental data. As the formula

proved to be very impressive, Saltmarsh also applied it to one of the sessions with Mrs.

Elliott. The probability score proved so impressive that he claimed, “I submit that this

result is such that the hypothesis that chance alone could have produced this amount of

veridicality is definitely excluded” (p. 271). Saltmarsh was still criticized for possible

bias, however, for establishing the probabilities of correctness for each statement due to

his prior knowledge of target statement accuracy. He was also criticized (Schouten, 1994)

for overlooking the possible interdependence of statements due to the influence of

accuracy in previous statements. Another cited limitation of the Saltmarsh/Soal method is

its unsuitability for use in sessions when the sitter provides feedback.

In 1933, J. F. Thomas (1937) received his PhD. from Duke University based on a

quantitative evaluation study of mediumistic statements utilizing the statistical analysis

methods initiated by Saltmarsh and Soal (1930). According to Thomas, the purpose of his

study was to analyze the mental content of mediumistic phenomena in order to better

evaluate the explanation of “chance hits.” Using himself as the target person, he

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anonymously visited several mediums. However, the content of his subsequent book,

Beyond Normal Cognition: An Evaluation and Methodological Study of the Mental

Content of Certain Trance Phenomena (Thomas, 1937), mainly dealt with the 24 sessions

he obtained with British medium, Gladys Osborne Leonard (introduced above). His

secretary and several other associates served as additional sitters in over 500 sessions.

Consequently, three groups of sessions were distinguished: those he attended, those

recorded by his secretary, and those attended by an uninformed intermediary associate.

The collected statements from the sessions were divided into “topics” (statements about

the same subject) and “points” (statements of a single fact), with Thomas evaluating the

accuracy of the statements. For all three sessions, he obtained a success rate of over 90%

and established what he referred to as highly significant z-score results in all three

groups. Thomas received criticism (as cited in Schouten, 1994), however, for serving a

major role in the evaluation and judgment process, and acting as the target person,

occasional recorder of the medium’s statements, selector of the readings and statements

used in the control studies, and judge who ultimately decided if the statements were true.

J.B. Rhine and the Duke Laboratory. J. B. Rhine (1947) also conducted

psychical research at Duke University. However, he primarily focused his studies on psi

phenomena (reviewed in Rock, 2013), which is a generic term used in reference to

anomalous cognition or extra-sensory perception (ESP) and anomalous motor activity or

psychokinesis. J. B. Rhine is considered the originator of laboratory research into

presumed psychic abilities (e.g., Mishlove, 1993) and conducted ESP experiments with

shuffled decks of cards that contained five sets of five symbols—a circle, a cross, a set of

three wavy lines, a square, and a star. J. B. Rhine also initiated psychokinesis research

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(e.g., Mishlove, 1993) through a monitor of the outcome of “intended control” over the

fall of dice.

ESP consists of any of the three types of psi communication: telepathy,

clairvoyance, or precognition. Telepathy is “information exchanged between two or more

minds, without the use of ordinary senses” (Radin, 1997, p. 14). Clairvoyance (also

referred to as remote viewing) is “information received from a distance, beyond the reach

of ordinary senses” (p. 15). Precognition is “information perceived about future events,

where the information could not be inferred by ordinary means” (p. 15).

Psychokinesis is considered as mind over matter or mind-matter interactions,

which describes the ability to move or change external physical objects utilizing either

micro or macro-psychokinesis (e.g., Rock, Storm, Irwin, & Beischel, 2013). Micro-

psychokinesis refers to directly unobservable invasive effects that occur at the sub-atomic

level, usually induced via psychokinetically influenced random number generators.

Macro-psychokinesis refers to directly observable effects on macroscopic objects,

commonly demonstrated by the outcome of dice throwing, metal bending, or the behavior

of biological organisms (Rock et al., 2013).

In Extra-Sensory Perception (1934a), J. Rhine published a review of his much-

awaited work concerning one’s ability for “perception-without-the-senses” (p. 11). The

publication not only cautiously revealed his research to an equally anticipated group of

skeptics and enthusiastic scientists, but also laid out the structural components (detailed

above) of this newly titled field of psychical research that he referred to as

“parapsychology.”

J. Rhine’s (1934b) initial work with well-known medium Eileen Garrett was

focused on ESP card research. On average, J. Rhine indicated that Garrett obtained very

15

significant scores during the three weeks of testing, especially when testing for telepathy.

However, Garrett (2002) was disappointed with her unusually low clairvoyance scores,

claiming that the cards “lacked the energy stimulus” (p. 116) characteristic of the mind-

to-mind communication in telepathy. Pratt (1936), an associate of J. Rhine’s at the Duke

Lab, later published a quantitative evaluation of his sessions with Garrett that revealed

significant results.

Updating previous methodologies, Pratt (1936) conducted two series of sessions,

utilizing 12 and 15 target people respectively. In the first series, the subject was present

when Garrett made her statements, while in the second series the target individual

remained in an adjacent room blinded to Garrett’s comments. The first series was

evaluated in the traditional manner at the time, enlisting the help of 25 control subjects. It

obtained significant results, with a z score of 3.22, at the probability level of .001. The

second series implemented a new method of evaluation proposed by Pratt. Following the

completion of the sessions, Pratt divided the verbal material into separate statements and

asked each target person to evaluate the statements according to its relevance to their own

situation. He then used the responses of the other 14 individuals as control data for each

session and calculated a mean standard deviation for each session’s scores. The outcome

of this study proved even more impressive. However, Pratt felt this may have been due to

two very successful sessions. A replication attempt by Herbert (1937), however, failed to

provide significant results.

In a continued effort to improve the methods of statistical evaluation in

mediumship research, Pratt and Birge (1948) later created a new approach to their

inquiry. Known as the Pratt-Birge Method, this new approach required the medium to

make statements about several target people, with each person judging all the statements

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on the closeness of fit to their own situation, blinded to whom each statement was

actually intended. Statistical analysis was based on these responses and considers the task

as a data-matching problem. Initially, the new method drew an extensive amount of

praise, however it was later criticized (Greville, 1949; Thouless, 1949) for its inability to

approximate a normal distribution when there is a small number of sessions.

The method was first tested in 1953, however, in order to evaluate an experiment

conducted by an American Society for Psychical Research study group, under the

direction of Alan F. MacRobert (1954). Five sessions were conducted with different

absent target persons who were unknown to the tested medium. Unfortunately, the results

proved disappointing, since the number of accurate statements were actually below

chance expectation.

Post-Rhine efforts at mediumship research. For the next 50 years, a humble

assortment of dedicated mediumship researchers submitted their contributions towards a

better understanding of the inquiry. Unfortunately this proved to be a collection of trials

and mostly error-oriented efforts that primarily yielded non-significant results (reviewed

in Schouten, 1994).

Some of the research efforts were considered impressive, however, in spite of

their failures to achieve a significant outcome. One particular failed attempt was an effort

by Schmeidler (1958) to improve the Pratt-Birge assessment methodology with the

addition of a weighted system for statement evaluations. Schmeidler (1966) was later

successful, however, in implementing a standardized quantitative tool utilized in the

investigation of purported “haunted” houses. Touring “sensitives” would record their

impressions of a ghost presence on a floor plan that would later be compared to similar

impressions from resident members of the “haunted” household. Follow-up studies with

17

Thelma Moss (Moss & Schmeidler, 1968) and Michaeleen Maher (Maher & Schmeidler,

1975), however, revealed mixed results when utilizing the new tool.

Bill Roll was another researcher and investigator that suggested a new

quantitative method of research in work with Charles Tart (Roll & Tart, 1965) that tested

the medium’s ability to perceive photos of the deceased in sealed envelopes. Roll

contended that there should be either a strong or weak association attached to the various

photos, however, all six of the experiments he conducted failed to provide significant

results.

Contemporary mediumship research. Schwartz, Russek, Nelson, and Barentsen

(2001) closed out the century in the spring of 1999 with multiple medium sessions for a

single sitter who had experienced six significant losses over the previous 10 years.

Simultaneously filmed as an HBO documentary on ADCs, the first study examined the

“yes-or-no” response of the sitter to questions individually presented in separate sessions

by five contemporary popular mediums. In each session, the sitter and the medium sat

side by side in front of the video cameras, separated by a 6 by 4 foot screen in an attempt

to eliminate visual contact. Nineteen channels of EEG and ECG measures were

simultaneously recorded for both the mediums and the sitter as a physiological check for

heart and brainwave synchrony. Verbatim transcripts of the sessions were copied from

the audio track recording for the statistical analysis of accuracy. A second sitter was

tested with two of the mediums. A few months following the data collection, both sitters

returned to score the accuracy of the transcripts.

Results for the first experimental session revealed an average accuracy level of

83% for the first sitter and 77% for the second. The average accuracy level for 68 control

subjects was 36%. Although Schwartz et al. (2001) hypothesized an ECG/ECG and

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ECG/EEG synchrony link between the sitter and the mediums during the readings, as

compared to an initial baseline recording level, no evidence of synchrony was found.

A follow-up study was conducted four months later in an attempt to replicate the

initial results and extend the conditions of the first experiment. Four of the initial

mediums returned to participate in the study. In the second experiment, the medium was

seated first, facing a video camera, in one of four separate rooms. An experimenter then

entered the room to assure the medium was seated comfortably and ready to begin. The

camera was placed in record mode and the sitter entered the room, facing the same

direction as the medium approximately six feet behind. An initial ten minutes of silence

was provided prior to the question session for the medium to receive any information

about the deceased individual, which was then shared out loud following the silent time.

Following the initial ten minutes of silence, the remaining portion of the session

replicated the initial experiment’s yes/no question and response format.

The average accuracy rate for the silent periods was 77% and the questioning

portion received an 85%. This led Schwartz et al. (2001) to conclude that highly skilled

mediums are able to obtain accurate and replicable information. Addressing several

methodological and statistical concerns inherent to traditional mediumship research,

however, Bem (2005) criticized the first effort for its lack of appropriate sensory

screening and O’Keeffe and Wiseman (2005) countered with a research design of their

own, which was later thoroughly criticized and discredited by Beischel (2007).

Robertson and Roy (2001) also published a two-year study examining a skeptical

hypothesis that statements made by mediums to sitters and other people attending public

demonstration meetings could be equally accepted by recipients and non-recipients alike.

Those who collectively received the supposedly relevant statements were referred to as

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recipients and had their statements transcribed by an investigator who noted those who

were specifically indicated in the statements as being in a set of numbered statements.

Subsequently, the set was then copied and shown to several people who were not

addressed and referred to as non-recipients. Non-recipients were matched to the

recipients by age, culture, and education level. During the first phase of the study, 10

mediums provided 44 recipients and 407 non-recipients with 44 sets of statements and

they were asked to assess the number of acceptable relevant statements per set. These

portions were then converted to a fraction and the average portion of acceptance by the

recipient was significantly larger than the non-recipient.

In spite of the results, however, the researchers considered two alternative

explanations for the recipients and three alternative explanations for the mediums. The

two recipient alternatives consisted of attitude and cultural differences. The three medium

alternatives were 1) the medium’s appraisal of the recipients via their appearance, 2) the

recipient’s body language, and 3) deliberate fraud by the medium. Consequently, in a

replication effort to address these concerns, Roy and Robertson (2001) conducted a

follow-up study where (a) the recipients and non-recipients were not aware of their

respective status and (b) the medium had no sensory contact with the recipient. Using a

weighted schedule of statement appraisal, Roy and Robertson were able to again achieve

significant results and receive validation in the practical use of their double-blind

protocol.

Shortly thereafter the newly titled, Robertson-Roy Protocol (Robertson & Roy,

2004) was again tested in a final set of 13 study sessions using 10 mediums and 300

participants throughout England and Scotland. The mediums generated 73 sets of

statements during the sessions, again demonstrating that the methodology was a proven

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capable means of assessing a medium’s ability to transmit relevant information to

recipients.

In response to a growing public interest in mediumistic phenomena, Beischel and

Schwartz (2007) conducted a study designed to acquire evidence indicating the

possibility that accurate information about a sitter’s deceased loved ones could be reliably

obtained from research mediums under highly controlled experimental conditions.

Coining the term Anomalous Information Reception they attempted to research the

process through the construction of a unique triple-blind method that went beyond

previous research utilizing single and double-blind methodologies. Specifically, the

triple-blind protocol implemented blinding at the following three levels:

(a) the research mediums were blind to the identities of the sitters and their deceased, (b) the experimenter/ proxy sitter interacting with the mediums was blind to the identities of the sitters and their deceased, and (c) the sitters rating the transcripts were blind to the origin of the readings (intended for the sitter vs. a matched control) during scoring. (p. 24)

Eight mental mediums who had previously demonstrated their ability to report

accurate information under “normal” mediumistic conditions were selected for the study

(Beischel & Schwartz, 2007). Eight undergraduate students from the University of

Arizona who indicated that they had a very close relationship with their chosen discarnate

were selected to serve as sitters. Information about each discarnate was collected from the

sitters by a research assistant who was isolated from the mediums. Discarnate

descriptions were then paired to maximize characteristic differences in age, physical

description, personality, hobbies, and cause of death. Four deceased parents were

ultimately matched with four deceased peers of the same gender for a total of four pairs

of sitters.

21

Each of the eight mediums delivered two phone readings: one for each sitter in a

pair (Beischel & Schwartz, 2007). Each of the four pairs of sitters was read by two

separate mediums for a total of eight pairs of readings. None of the mediums were given

any information about the sitter or his or her relationship to the discarnate. However, in

order to facilitate the capability of the medium to receive accurate information

concerning a targeted discarnate, the first name of the discarnate was given to the

medium at the beginning of the reading.

In each phone reading, an experimenter blinded to the identity of the sitter and

any information about the discarnate beyond their first name, acted as a proxy sitter for

the students (Beischel & Schwartz, 2007). Proxy sitters were selected to (a) facilitate the

reading practices of the medium that would best accommodate the reading process, while

(b) blinding the medium to cues from the sitter and (c) blinding the absent sitter to the

reading until scoring was completed.

Readings were transcribed and a numerical listing of individual significant items

was subsequently created by an associate experimenter who was blinded to details

concerning the sitters or discarnates (Beischel & Schwartz, 2007). Paired sitters served as

matched controls for the other sitter in the pair. Consequently, each sitter scored the

reading intended for them as well as the control reading on a scale designed to measure

the listed items on levels of accuracy ranging from an obvious fit to no fit at all. Sitters

also gave each list of items a (0-6) global numerical score, with zero indicating a total

lack of correct information to a six as a totally accurate excellent reading. Following the

summary scoring for both readings in a pair, the sitter was asked to select the most

applicable reading, based on criteria indicating material that was “clearly the more

applicable” to “neither one seemed applicable” (p. 25).

22

Beischel and Schwartz (2007) concluded that the results they obtained were able

to suggest that certain mediums can anomalously receive accurate information about

deceased individuals because the study design effectively isolates conventional

mechanisms and telepathy as explanations for information reception. However, they

added that the results were not capable of distinguishing between other alternative

paranormal hypotheses, such as the survival of consciousness (i.e., the continued

existence of an individual’s consciousness or personality separate from the body after

physical death) and super-psi (discussed below).

A few years later, in an effort to replicate and extend the previous study of

Anomalous Information Reception conducted by Beischel and Schwartz (2007),

Beischel, Boccuzzi, Biuso, and Rock (2015) conducted a replication attempt between

2009 and 2013 to examine mediums’ abilities to report specific accurate information

about discarnates under experimental conditions that eliminate conventional explanations

(e.g., cold reading, rater bias, experimenter cueing, fraud) via both itemized and global

scoring methods. The study consisted of 96 mediumship readings and involved three

experiments of increasing levels of complexity under conditions that were designed to

“optimize the research environment and maximize experimental blinding” (p. 137).

Similar to the blinding specifications in the first Anomalous Information

Reception study (Beischel & Schwartz, 2007), the second study (Beischel et al., 2015)

employed a beyond double-blind protocol that implemented blinding at the following five

levels:

(a) the medium is blinded to information about the sitter and the discarnate before and during the reading, (b) the sitter-raters are blinded to the origin of the readings during scoring, (c) the experimenter who consents and trains the sitter-raters (Experimenter 1) is blinded to which mediums read which sitters and which blinded readings were intended for which discarnates, (d) the experimenter who

23

interacts with the mediums during the phone readings and formats the readings into item lists (Experimenter 2) is blinded to any information about the sitters and the discarnates beyond the discarnates’ first names, and (e) the experimenter who interacts with the sitters during scoring (i.e., e-mails and receives by e-mail the blinded readings) (Experimenter 3) is blinded to all information about the discarnates, to which medium performed which readings, and to which readings were intended for which discarnates/sitters. (pp. 138-139)

An exploratory session that consisted of two phases initiated the study. Fourteen

Windbridge Certified Research Mediums were utilized in a three-way phone call with a

blinded experimenter and a sitter. Phase 1 of the exploratory session was considered

single-blinded. The sitter could hear the medium but remained silent in order to prevent

the mediums’ receipt of voice clues that would compromise the sitter’s age and gender.

The medium provided free-form information about the named discarnate for about 20

minutes. During the second phase (considered unblinded, but regulated) the medium was

introduced to the sitter by first name. During this 20 minute phase, the medium was

permitted to ask the sitter yes-or-no questions, to which they could also respond

“maybe,” “sort of,” or “I don’t know” as appropriate. A six point rating scale ranging

from 6 as excellent to 0 as totally incorrect was used to assess the mediums’ accuracy.

The first experiment also used 14 Windbridge Certified Research Mediums who

did two readings. One reading was targeted for the designated sitter and the other (a

decoy) intended for another sitter. The target and the decoy were paired for gender, but

varied in age of death, physical description, personality characteristics, hobbies, and the

cause of death. One medium and a blinded experimenter participated in sessions under

conditions that were considered beyond double-blinded, where the medium was given the

first name of the discarnate and responded to specific questions concerning the varied

features listed above. Additional specific messages from the named discarnate were also

included as an extra free-form item of information. The sitters would then subsequently

24

score both the target and decoy readings to provide an estimated percentage of accuracy

for both the structured and free-form portions of the reading.

The second experiment utilized 20 Windbridge Certified Research Medium

participants and was identical to the first in terms of pairing, blinding, and reading.

However, the second experiment utilized both an individualized item assessment where

the structured questions and free-form information were evaluated on a scale from five to

zero (ranging from obvious accuracy to no fit and a lack of question comprehension) and

a global assessment. Global assessment scores were given for both readings, each using

the same 0-6 scoring system described in the Exploratory Study Phases above and a

forced-choice selection of which reading (target or decoy) was more applicable to them.

Scores from the exploratory portion indicated that the reported information

appeared to be accurate, as judged by the sitters. Scores from the first and second

experiments were also considered sufficiently accurate under conditions that exclude

ordinary explanations, with significant scoring differences between target and decoy

readings. The results from this study appear to validate and extend the significant results

of the previous study (Beischel & Schwartz, 2007) and justify further research interests

indicated by the authors.

Sensing a growing interest in mediums amongst the bereaved population, Kelly

and Arcangel (2011) conducted two medium studies using proxy sitters. In an attempt to

eliminate any direct sensory contact between the medium and the sitter, the proxy sitters

knew little or nothing about the deceased person. This specification was hypothesized as

eliminating the provision of clarifying information feedback from the sitter and provided

the actual sitters an opportunity to blindly evaluate the medium’s statements without the

effect of biased interpretation. In the first study, four mediums did three readings each for

25

a total of 12 different sitters, proxied by Kelly. Only the first name and birth day (without

the year) of the sitter were given to Kelly and the medium as a means of focus at the

beginning of the recorded phone session. Each of the 12 sitters were later sent transcripts

of the session and three other sittings selected at random, as well as a list of individual

extracted statements from all four. Sitters were then asked to assess the accuracy rate of

each on a five-point scale and select their own from the group. Kelly then calculated an

accuracy score for each of the 48 statements, however, failed to receive significant results

beyond chance.

The second study was a replication attempt with three major modifications to the

original study. The first modification implemented the use of neutral background

photographs of the deceased being sent to the mediums as a means of focus, without any

sitter information. The second protocol adjustment implemented proxy sharing, with

Kelly and Arcangel equally splitting this responsibility. The third modification consisted

of a sitter evaluation adjustment that attempted to simplify the accuracy appraisal process

with what the experimenters referred to as a “global” process that provided an overall,

rather than statement-by-statement evaluation of the reading. For this study, nine

mediums who had not participated in the first study gave readings for 40 sitters, with two

mediums doing six readings and seven doing four. Each of the individual photographs of

the deceased were sent to a medium and classified in one of four categories, separated by

gender and age. Although the experimenters scheduled the reading times, the mediums

would select the photo they were attracted to and continue with a reading for the

associated sitter. The taped session for each reading was then transcribed. Each sitter was

sent six transcripts (the actual reading and five other age and gender matched transcripts)

and asked to evaluate them on a ten-point scale of accuracy, with an overall comment on

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the reason for the highest rated selection. Thirty-eight sets of ratings were returned. Each

was ranked on a scale that compared the selected personal reading with the five other

control readings. Thirty of the 38 were ranked within the top half of the collection.

The more significant results of the second study led Kelly and Arcangel (2011) to

conclude that truly qualified mediums could be found under controlled research

conditions. However, Beischel (2011) later indicated that a prescreening of the mediums

could have been initially conducted prior to the study in order to sort out more qualified

participants. A second suggestion mentioned that all participant experimenters should be

completely blinded of information relevant to the deceased in order to prevent the

possibility of unconscious cuing or telepathic access to the medium. A final concern

acknowledged the challenge of finding an appropriate photograph of the deceased that is

truly neutral. Beischel (2011) indicated that a simple mention of the discarnate’s name

had proven to be a sufficient focal device conducive to initiating the mediumship process

in previous studies.

The super-psi dilemma. By the advent of the 21st century, most mediumship

researchers had begun to acknowledge a possible legitimate alternative source of

information to the claimant medium, other than the discarnate being (Rock, 2013). As

Tart (2009) explained, the medium can also obtain high-quality information about the

deceased by way of unconscious psi phenomena, known as super-psi (or super-ESP).

Acknowledged by the editors (Krippner, Rock, Beischel, Fracasso, & Friedman, 2013) in

the introduction to Volume 9 of the Advances in Parapsychological Research series,

survival psi (i.e., knowledge directly acquired by the medium in communication with a

deceased individual) is not distinguishable from living agent psi (i.e., knowledge

telepathically acquired by the medium through a scanning of the sitter’s mind or another

27

living person, such as a loved one of the discarnate; clairvoyantly via documents, photos,

or other objects or places; and/or the future acquisition of information via precognition).

Living agent psi (LAP) has been considered a convincing alternative (e.g., Rock,

2013; Tart, 2009) to the survival hypothesis, with Braude (2003), referring to it as a

“more refined and extensive psychic functioning than we discover in controlled

laboratory studies” (p. 11). In other words, the super-psi hypothesis is merely LAP being

“pushed to its limits” (Gauld, 1982, p. 15), or perhaps “LAP without limits” (Rock, 2013,

p. 12). Tart (2009) even validated the possibility that a medium believing in spirit

survival might also unconsciously use their psi ability to get valid information as a means

to increase their credibility.

Gauld (1982) summed up the central theme of the dilemma presented by the

super-psi hypothesis as being merely a question of verification by stating, “If a piece of

putative evidence for survival is to be of use, it must be verifiable” (p. 15). This simply

means that we must be able to validate the information by consulting existing records or

surviving friends to assure that the information given by the ostensible communicator is

correct. However, if the sources for checking the information are available, theoretically

they may also be available to the medium via telepathy or clairvoyance. Therefore, it

should not be surprising to realize that the super-psi hypothesis is un-testable because it

claims an omniscient and omnipotent capacity that cannot be replicated by the scientific

method (Martinez-Taboas, 1983).

One should also realize that the survival hypothesis also includes a psi process

that facilitates information transfer between a medium and a discarnate (Beischel &

Rock, 2009). In particular, in what Sudduth (2009) refers to as survival psi (psychic

communication with a discarnate) either the medium acquires her knowledge of

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discarnate minds via a telepathic scan or the discarnate person is telepathically sending

information to her mind. Either way, living agent telepathy is operative.

Another source-of-psi hypothesis was introduced by Beischel and Rock (2009)

when they coined the term somatic psi. In this case, the term somatic is used in reference

to the corporal body of the living client in the psychic readings, as well as the “body of

knowledge” described by the psychic reservoir hypothesis. The psychic reservoir may be

considered as a cosmic storage facility with an unspecified space-time location that

supposedly contains all the information ever created since the beginning of time

(Fontana, 2005). Conceivably then, one may conclude that LAP, super-psi, the psychic

reservoir, and survival psi are all possible sources for the medium’s anomalistic

information reception (Rock, 2013).

Researchers seeking a resolution to the source-of-psi problem must contend with

two related questions (Rock, 2013). First, what is the basic nature of the medium’s

knowledge claims, and secondly, how might the source of the medium’s knowledge

claims be determined? The first question is focused on the verification of the specific

knowledge claims. By contrast, the second question is procedural, seeking to know how

to clarify the source-of-psi. One might say that resolving the second question will provide

the means for understanding the first.

In order to better comprehend the source-of-psi problem, Rock (2013) suggested

that it might be beneficial to examine it in the context of the Beischel and Schwartz

(2007) triple-blind protocol (reviewed above). Beischel and Schwartz’s conclusion,

however, may seem too presumptuous since in its claim for the elimination of telepathic

scanning, there are other accessible sources of information available other than the

experimenter (Rock, 2013). Blinded sitters or other members of the discarnate’s family

29

are obvious additional sources of telepathic consideration, however Beischel and

Schwartz (2007) extended their considerations even further in a later portion of their

article. Conceding that the design was also incapable of preventing the use of

clairvoyance in the remote viewing of physical objects or family photographs that might

be used for additional pertinent information, they revealed another alternate source

consideration. In contrast, Rock (2013) indicated that the potential use of precognition as

an alternate source of information retrieval may effectively be eliminated by not

including a debriefing of the discarnate details in the experimental protocol.

Beischel (2012) commented that the source of psi problem seems insurmountable

because no amount of scoring data, nor any type of mediumship content can definitively

distinguish between somatic or survival psi. Although philosophers Stephen Braude and

Michael Sudduth (Rock, 2013) would tend to agree with Beischel’s sentiment, other

parapsychologists such as Lance Storm are more optimistic that continued variations of

perspective to the dilemma will assist in its resolution.

Qualitative research. Most contemporary mediumship research (e.g., Beischel,

2013) has been primarily proof-oriented in nature, mainly concerned with demonstrating

anomalous information reception in a laboratory setting. However, since proof-oriented

research cannot alone account for the medium’s alleged experience with an actual

deceased individual (Beischel & Rock, 2009), quantitative methodologies have given

way for the inclusion of process-oriented studies that investigate the medium’s

phenomenology (e.g., Rock & Beischel, 2008) and psychology (e.g., Roxburgh & Roe,

2011). Phenomenology (Creswell, 1998) explores the structures of consciousness in the

human experience. The phenomenological researcher therefore engages in research

30

investigating the way things are experienced and how events are integrated into a

meaningful experience (Hanson & Klimo, 1998).

Process-oriented research, however, is not an entirely new concept (e.g., L. Rhine,

1981). Shortly after the conclusion of World War II, J. B. Rhine acknowledged his desire

to utilize material included in numerous letters to the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory

that described examples of purported spontaneous occurrences in real-life psi situations.

Consequently, he revealed his proposal for an examination of these phenomena in an

editorial of the Journal of Parapsychology (J. Rhine, 1948). Admitting the suggestive

value of the collected experiences in related experimental research, he expressed his

desire for a fresh outlook on these long neglected letters as a means of better

understanding the nature of purported psi capacities.

L. Rhine (1981) subsequently initiated what was called “a return to anecdotal

research” and devoted her career to the assessment and classification of collected

spontaneous cases of psi phenomena. After years of examining numerous anecdotal

incidents, she published The Invisible Picture (1981), which presented an extensive

analysis of spontaneous psi experiences ranging from extrasensory perception,

psychokinesis, and precognition to hallucinatory and apparitional experiences of the

deceased.

More recently, Rock, Beischel, and Schwartz (2008) focused on the

phenomenological processes involved with the receipt of material utilizing a thematic

analysis of the mediumistic process. Based on their study of eight mediums’ experiences

of communication with discarnate entities, they concluded that the mediumship

experience involves seven main themes. These are: multimodal sensory impressions

related to the discarnate (e.g., visual, auditory, and tactile); seeing the discarnate in his or

31

her mind’s eye; hearing information from the discarnate in his or her mind’s ear; feeling

discarnates’ ailments or cause of death; experiencing fragrances associated with the

discarnate before his or her bodily death; alteration of affect (e.g., feeling love or

anxiety); and empathy with the discarnate (e.g., adopting behaviors, personality traits,

and/or idiosyncrasies).

One acknowledged inherent limitation to the study, however, was the lack of a

controlled evaluation of the mediums’ phenomenology during communication with the

discarnate. Regretfully, the study did not control for the duration of time lapsed between

the medium’s last discarnate reading and the completion of the post-session

questionnaire. As the author’s noted, in order to reduce memory loss of the experience, it

would seem beneficial to collect self-reported phenomenological data immediately after

the reading.

Consequently, the authors suggested that further research should include the use

of a multi-item retrospective phenomenological assessment instrument known as Pekala’s

(1991) Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory to quantify the intensity and pattern

of phenomenological elements (e.g., visual mental imagery, altered experience,

rationality, positive effect, and volitional control) experienced by the mediums during

their communications with the discarnate. In other words, it was anticipated that use of

the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory would allow a quantification of the

“state of consciousness” experienced by the medium during anomalous information

reception and potentially assess its difference between that of a psychic reading for the

living.

As a follow-up study, Rock and Beischel (2008) conducted a study examining

mediums’ experiences during phone readings for discarnates in comparison to control

32

experiences of a simple phone conversation. Seven pre-screened and tested certified

research mediums participated in a counter-balanced examination of both reading and

control conditions. Sequentially (as discussed above) the associated phenomenology for

each session was assessed via the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory. The

Inventory consisted of a questionnaire designed to quantify 26 different

phenomenological elements associated with exposure to a stimulus condition. Results

revealed a significantly higher score for the reading condition in comparison to the

control condition for the elements of Negative Affect, Altered Experience (e.g.,

alterations in time sense, body image, and the perception of objects in the external

world), and Altered State of Awareness (i.e., the subjective sense of an altered state of

consciousness). Significantly lower scores were received for the reading condition in the

elements of Self-Awareness, Volitional Control, and Memory.

The authors noted that variations in discarnate communications as compared to

control conditions were not entirely surprising, considering that previous research (e.g.,

Rock et al., 2008) has found that during readings, mediums purportedly experience

bodily sensations pertaining to the discarnate’s cause of death or ailments prior to

passing. It was also anecdotally noted that “discarnate readings regularly include

emotionally negative content, such as the medium experiencing and conveying feelings

of sorrow, loss, longing, remorse, and even anger” (Rock & Beischel, 2008, p. 171).

A subsequent study by Rock, Beischel, and Cott (2009) further clarified the

discarnate receptivity phenomenon by distinguishing mediums’ experiences of ostensible

discarnate communication from their experiences of acquiring psychic information about

the living. In particular, psychic reading content was pertinent to the individual client,

with information relevant to their future; whereas mediumship reading content was

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considered pertinent to the discarnate, with information facilitating the discarnate-sitter

communication. A Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory, however, was not

conducted in this study.

Although another follow-up study by Rock, Beischel, Boccuzzi, and Biuso (2014)

designed to assess accuracy of discarnate readings by claimant mediums under beyond

double-blind conditions revealed a significantly higher global accuracy rating for the

intended sitters when compared to the “decoy” control sitters, the associated

Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory revealed no indication of evidence

supporting the presence of “trance” or an “altered state of consciousness.” Consequently,

it failed to replicate the results obtained in the original Phenomenology of Consciousness

Inventory study by Rock and Beischel (2008). Since these results were in contradiction to

the original study, it would appear that current Phenomenology of Consciousness

Inventory research has produced inconclusive results and is still an open question worthy

of continued study.

Given the specifics of the assessment instrument (Pekala, 1991), the

Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory is inherently time sensitive and should be

administered in as timely a manner as possible, following the experience under

consideration. However, since it is also self-evaluative, the participant’s self-assessment

of the experience may also be subject to variation due to a number of unique personal

considerations (e.g., personal history with and/or recognition of the experience,

personality, mood).

In another inquiry, Roxburgh and Roe (2011) created a personality profile and

conducted a psychological well-being study of mental mediums throughout the United

Kingdom. A total of 159 spiritualists (80 mediums and 79 non-mediums) took the survey

34

and completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES, Carlson & Putman, 1993), the

Boundary Questionnaire short form (BQ-18, Kunzendorf, Hartmann, Cohen, & Cutler,

1997), the Creative Experiences Scale (CEQ, Merckelbach, Horselenberg, & Muris,

2001) the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-17, Stewart, Ware, Sherbourne, & Wells,

1992), and the Big Five Inventory (BFI, John, Donahue, & Kentle, 1991). No significant

differences were found between the groups on dissociation as measured by the

Dissociative Experiences Scale (Carlson & Putman, 1993). Reflected in their concluding

comments that “mediums do not present as being more prone to generalized dissociation

symptoms” (p. 294) and that “it does not seem tenable to characterize mediums as

psychologically unhealthy or dysfunctional” (p. 294), the collective test results suggested

that mediumship is not associated with a high level of dissociation or pathology.

Two more recent phenomenological studies by Roxburgh and Roe (2013, 2014)

focused on the characteristics of alleged mediumship communications with the deceased.

The first study (Roxburgh & Roe, 2013) analyzed in-depth semi-structured interviews of

ten Spiritualist mediums via the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996).

Specific questions of interest included how mediums perceived the origin and

development of their abilities? Also, how they described and explained communications

with spirits, as well as the nature and role of spirit guides? And finally, how they

perceived the purpose of mediumship? Subsequent analysis revealed three themes:

explanatory systems of mediumship, spirit guides as transcendental beings rather than

aspects of the self, and the purpose of mediumship in terms of therapeutic support.

Encouraged by the results, the authors suggested further in-depth studies of the spirit

guide phenomena, a comparison to non-spiritualist (secular) mediumship experiences,

and a study of the phenomenology of mediumship from the sitter’s perspective.

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In a follow-up study, Roxburgh and Roe (2014) examined how mediums

evaluated their experiences as mediumistic and described their relationship with spirit

voices. In this study, in-depth interviews were again conducted with ten Spiritualist

mediums and subsequently assessed with interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three themes were identified as: Childhood anomalous experiences, a search for meaning

through the “normalization” of mediumship, and relationships with spirit. Roxburgh and

Roe concluded that results of this study demonstrated a need for the development of a

personal experiential framework or explanatory model that could normalize the

phenomena of the voice hearing experience. Furthermore, validation of the experience by

a sensitive family, society and mental health community may also facilitate a therapeutic

reconciliation for individuals who have had similar experiences, but became distressed by

them.

This section has presented a detailed display of mediumship research in order to

provide a foundational context of the study. A further elaboration of the mediumship

experience utilizing biographical comparison is presented in the next section.

A Biographic Perspective of the Psychic Opening

Creswell (1998) has defined the biographical study as a study of the individual

and his or her experiences as told to a researcher or documented in archival materials.

Widely defined, he used the term biography in reference to a variety of biographical

accounts that include the individual biography, autobiographies, life histories, and oral

histories. Robson (2002) has also supported the qualitative content of biographical data

and claimed that qualitative analysis remains much closer to codified common sense than

the statistical analysis of quantitative data. Consequently, I selected a method of content

analysis that is capable of capturing the pivotal moments of an individual’s life and

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focused on the psychic opening experiences of four noted claimant mediums, both living

and deceased. For this inquiry, the term “claimant mediums” is used as an objective and

non-pejorative term to describe these practitioners.

The psychic opening. The psychic opening experience is represented by the

various types of psi phenomena (detailed earlier) as defined by J. B. Rhine (1947) in The

Reach of the Mind. Kason (2008) elaborated on the experience, stating the “Psychic

Awakening—or psychic opening—has become a generally accepted term for describing

the onset of psychic experiences in a person who has not previously had them” (p. 91).

Although she believed that not everyone who had a psychic experience was undergoing a

spiritual transformation, she was convinced that psychic experiences were often involved

in the spiritual transformation process. In further clarification, she listed the following 16

psychic experiences as being possible during the psychic opening process (pp. 92-93):

• Abstract intuition. Knowing the answer to a problem without the use of logic.

• Astral travel. The spirit body traveling to another time, place, or dimension.

• Automatic writing. Writing done without conscious thought by the writer.

• Clairaudience. Mental perception of sound beyond the range of hearing.

• Clairsentience. Sensing the true feelings of others, via one’s own body.

• Clairvoyance. The ability to see objects or events beyond the range of sight.

• Psychic/spiritual healing. The ability to heal others by touch or thought.

• Out-of-Body Experiences. Awareness outside the body, yet near the physical.

• Past-life recall. Knowledge or sensation of a previous-life incarnation.

• Precognition. Ability to see, know, or emotionally sense the future.

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• Psychometry. Receipt of intuitive information about people or objects by

touch.

• Spirit guide communication. Assistance from spirit helpers, angels, or guides.

• Telekinesis. Ability to move objects by thought or mental influence.

• Telepyrokinesis. Ability to start fires via thought or mental influence.

• Telepathy. Ability to send and/or receive the thoughts of another person.

• Trance channeling. The use of another personality or spirit in communication.

For the purpose of categorical assessment, I selected J. Rhine’s (1947) original

extrasensory perception criteria of telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition as my

critical focus.

Biographic experiences of the psychic opening. My biographical sampling of

representative claimant mediums consisted of George Anderson, John Edward, Eileen

Garrett, and James Van Praagh. Each biographical inclusion has been presented as it

appeared in context within the original biographical account and was selected according

to its initial transformative experience. In the context of this dissertation, the term

“experience” is differentiated from the term “event” in reference to the anomalous

phenomena described in the biographical accounts, rather than putative psi phenomena

resulting from controlled experimental conditions (Luke & Friedman, 2010). For

example, an “event” is a demonstrable consensual occurrence, whereas an “experience”

is considered subjective and may or may not be associated with a consensual public event

(Cardeña, Lynn & Krippner, 2013).

John Edward (1999), bestselling author and claimant medium, has appeared on

numerous radio and television talk shows and on one occasion described a purported

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precognitive awareness of the untimely death of his uncle Carmine on December 29,

1987:

What made it especially hard, of course, was the vision of his death I’d had only three months before. It was in October 1987, during one of my earliest experiences with meditation that I saw Uncle Carmine walk in front of me and collapse, clutching his left arm. It looked like he was dying in front of my eyes. It was so strong and vivid, and so disturbing. (p. 20)

Convinced that his Uncle Carmine was the true impetus for the recognition of his

abilities, Edward added:

It’s as if when he passed, he was saying, “Johnny’s not plugged in enough,” and sort of went over to my “Other Side” switch and plugged me in, because after that it was like the lights came on and the Other Side really started coming through. (p. 21)

George Anderson, an equally well-known contemporary claimant medium, also

supposedly reported predicting a death at an early age (Martin & Romanowski, 1988).

Anderson claimed to have had a happy childhood until the age of six, when he contracted

a severe case of chicken pox. This condition ultimately rendered him paralyzed because

of viral complications that attacked his brain and spinal cord in a condition called

encephalomyelitis. Two months later, he appeared to have recovered as he jumped from

bed and began running around the room. His life as a normal six-year-old boy seemed to

be restored, with one exception. He could now tell people around him, even those born

prior to his birth, about events from their past.

Since Anderson would tell people about personal concerns in their lives, he soon

became misunderstood, ridiculed, and even feared (Martin & Romanowski, 1988). One

outstanding incident that he was naïvely proud of involved telling a playmate that his

grandmother would soon be going to “the next world.” Not understanding what Anderson

had said, his friend Tommy frantically asked him to explain.

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“Oh don’t worry,” Anderson replied, “because people on the other side are

waiting for her to come over so she won’t be alone. She won’t be there by herself”

(Martin & Romanowski, 1988, p. 50).

Still confused by what Anderson was saying, Tommy begged for clarification

(Martin & Romanowski, 1988). Realizing that his friend was upset, Anderson attempted

to calm him down by explaining that Tommy’s grandfather had told him that he was

waiting for his grandmother to come over and be with him. However, Tommy should not

be afraid, because his grandmother would not really die. Understandably, Tommy

rushed home to tell his parents, whereupon they assured him that Anderson just had an

overactive imagination. However, one week later, when Tommy’s grandmother died

unexpectedly, the prediction was quickly dismissed as a mere coincidence.

Likewise, Eileen Garrett (2002), another claimant medium, author, and founder of

the Parapsychology Foundation also had a psychic opening experience when she had an

alleged precognitive awareness of the death of her aunt Leone during the early years of

her childhood in Ireland:

I was sitting one evening on the porch, lazily turning the pages of a schoolbook, when I looked up suddenly and saw my Aunt Leone, a favorite aunt, coming up the path toward the house. She was carrying a baby. I had not seen my aunt very often, but I was fond of her. . . . Not having seen her for a long time, I was happy at her arriving without an invitation. She looked tired and very ill, and as I went to reach out and greet her, she said to me—and I shall always be sure she said

this— “I am going away now and must take the baby with me.” (p. 27)

When she went to tell her guardian aunt that her Aunt Leone had come to visit,

they rushed out to greet her, but she was not to be found. She had disappeared completely

and Eileen was severely disciplined for lying. Later, the following evening, she was told

that her aunt Leone had indeed died while giving birth to a baby, with the baby also dying

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in the process. She was also told that she should never again tell anything that she should

see because it might again come true.

While the clairvoyance and premonition of death appears to be a common theme

for the claimant medium, there are also accounts of simple accidents that have been

recorded. Another claimant medium, best-selling author, and television producer James

Van Praagh (1997) recalled such a purported incident with his first grade Catholic school

teacher:

Lunch break was over, and all the kids were heading back to the classroom. I had just put away my Yogi Bear lunch box when my teacher, Mrs. Weinlick walked into the room. Our eyes met and a feeling of sadness instantly came over me. Then I walked up to her and said, “Everything is going to be all right. John broke his leg.” She looked at me with a cross expression and said, “What are you talking about?” I replied, “John was hit by a car, but he is okay. He just broke his leg.” Well, I thought her eyes were going to pop straight out of her head. She pointed to my seat and told me to sit in it for the rest of the day. About an hour later, the principal came to the door and spoke with Mrs. Weinlick. Mrs. Weinlick panicked, turned white, and ran out of the room screaming. (pp. 3-4)

The following day, Van Praagh noted, his teacher was back to her normal self and

later told him after class that her son John was hit by a car the previous day but

fortunately had just broken his leg.

It is difficult, however, to determine if the incidents of unusual awareness for

Garrett and Van Praagh were precognitive, with the awareness prior to the occurrence, or

clairvoyant, with the awareness at the time of the event. By the time both Garrett and Van

Praagh had become aware of the actual incident the result was still the same. They were

both surprised to learn of the occurrence validation and left in wonder concerning their

role in the experience.

Fortunately, Van Praagh (1997) added, his teacher was later able to calm him

down and explain that many people, children and adults alike, were able to know things

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before they happen and referred to him as “one of God’s messengers” (p. 5). Van Praagh

further noted:

She [his teacher] asked me “How did you know it was going to happen?” I didn’t know how to answer her. I just knew it. I had a sense about it. She stared at me, and I started to cry. Was I responsible for creating this accident and maiming her

son? (p. 4)

Since the experiences in this study dealt with initial encounters, I am inclined to

suspect that these incidents, as described by Edward’s (1999) “plugged in” encounter

with his uncle Carmine, served as the initial stimuli of spiritual emergence that began

pathways to subsequent psychic development. Consequently, I would suggest that these

experiences have shaped the potential for the further expansion of the psycho-spiritual

development process and merit a continued, more detailed examination.

The Spiritual Transformation Process

In her research on ADC between deceased individuals and their living loved ones,

Drewry (2002) found that the experience included sensing the presence of or feeling

touched by the deceased, hearing words or other utterances of the deceased, receiving a

communication from the deceased in a dream or other altered state of consciousness,

having out-of-body contact with the deceased, receiving a communication from the

deceased before knowing of the death, receiving a communication by means of physical

objects moving with no apparent external force, receiving a communication through

unusual Nature phenomena (e.g., rainbows, bird formations), sexual communication with

the deceased, and communication with the deceased through instrumentation such as

radio broadcast activity.

This research suggested that presumed ADCs are not limited only to designated

mediums. Various other surveys have shown that a tremendous number of people across

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genders, ages, socioeconomic groupings, and ethnicities and nationalities have indicated

having such encounters with deceased loved ones (Piccinini & Rinaldi, 1990; West,

1990). For example, 42% of the 1,445 respondents in the United States that Greeley

(1989) surveyed had these experiences and Whitney (1992) concluded that the stronger

the emotional involvement between the deceased and living individuals, the more likely

that the living individual will have an ADC.

While it may be concluded from these studies that many people may have had the

same type of ADCs, some of these experiences may be considered merely coincidental by

the one having the experience (Kason, 2008). Consequently not all of these people will

go on to become a medium. In order to better understand the initial experience, it is

important to also understand the process of recognizing these experiences for what they

are.

The spectrum of disturbances in spiritual transformation. It may be beneficial

to consider the range of anomalous experiences that occur throughout the spiritual

transformation process as a spectrum (Kason, 2008). While one end of the spectrum

consists of difficult episodes that occur from time to time in the routine long-term process

of spiritual transformation, the parameter extends from various types of crisis incidents

and emergencies to various types of psychoses at the opposite end. How, then, does one

distinguish between the various types of experience within the spectrum?

Although nearly every individual will encounter their own set of challenges on a

spiritual journey, not everyone engaged in a spiritual transformation will experience a

spiritual emergency or psychotic episode. Sudden psychic awakenings or openings,

however, can still be confusing or disruptive, even frightening to the novice experiencer

who does not believe that psychic phenomena actually exist. Even people who do believe

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in psychic abilities can be disturbed by their own experience of them (Kason, 2008).

Convinced that only a few rare and gifted individuals possess these abilities, they may be

curious about their own sanity, afraid that their imaginations are running wild. Reluctant

to discuss the experience with others, they may eventually accept their abilities as a

portion of their spiritual journey. There is still a tendency, however, to restrict their

sharing of this knowledge to only those they feel will understand.

Transformational turbulence. The process of spiritual transformation on the

more turbulent side of the spectrum, however, has the potential to become emotionally

and mentally troubling. Some individuals may find the intensity and/or content of the

experiences to be overwhelming and difficult to cope with (Kason, 2008).

As the 1960s brought on a new surge of interest in spirituality, consciousness

exploration evolved in a variety of ways. Manifested as a renewed awareness of ancient

and Eastern spiritual practices, a number of experiential psychotherapies began to unfold

via personal meditation and the informal use of psychedelic drugs (S. Grof, 1983, 1985;

S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989a, 1989b; Kason, 2008). However, when these experiences are

particularly unfamiliar, intense, or at odds with one’s belief system, the individual can

experience severe distress and be catapulted into what S. Grof (2000) has called a

spiritual emergency.

A spiritual emergency has been described as a personal crisis that may appear to

have symptoms that are traditionally associated with psychosis and, consequently, has

occasionally been confused with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizo-affective

disorder (Bragdon, 2013). Associated intrusive thoughts and images could also be

construed as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, while other diagnoses might

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include one of the dissociative disorders including Dissociative Identity Disorder, or

delusional disorder (Krippner, 1994).

C. Grof and S. Grof (1990) characterized the spiritual emergency experience as a

time when the logical mind is bypassed and the intuitive world of inspiration and

imagination are revealed. The crisis of a psychic opening may even be characterized by

such a massive influx of information from non-ordinary sources that it, in itself, becomes

overwhelming and confusing. People who experience these intense psychic openings may

be so in touch with the inner process of others that they gain access to the other’s inner

cognitive processes and private dilemmas (S. Grof, 2000). In such cases, people may

experience an identity loss, taking on the personal qualities of another individual

(whether living or deceased), even to the extent of assuming their body image, posture,

gestures, facial expressions, feelings, and thought processes (S. Grof, 1988). One is often

in a pending state of change in which one’s sense of coherence and faith in the continuity

of life is altered. Crises such as these can exist in various degrees of severity, ranging

from brief durations to a more lengthy transition with major paradigm adjustments

(Sperry, 2001).

Several parallels to these experiences have been found in the life stories of saints,

yogis, mystics, and shamans. Yogananda (1974), for example, in his Autobiography of a

Yogi recalled an experience of cosmic consciousness while attempting to meditate:

I planned to meditate, but my laudable purpose was unshared by disobedient thoughts. They scattered like birds before the hunter.

“Mukunda!” Sri Yukteswar’s voice sounded from a distant balcony. I felt as rebellious as my thoughts. “Master always urges me to meditate,” I muttered to myself. “He should not disturb me when he knows why I came into his room.”

He summoned me again; I remained obstinately silent. The third time his tone held rebuke.

“Sir, I am meditating,” I shouted protestingly.

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“I know how you are meditating,” my guru called out, “with your mind disturbed like leaves in a storm! Come here to me.”

Thwarted and exposed, I made my way sadly to his side. “Poor boy, mountains cannot give you what you want.” Master spoke

caressingly, comfortingly. His calm gaze was unfathomable. “Your heart’s desire shall be fulfilled.”

Sri Yukteswar seldom indulged in riddles; I was bewildered. He struck gently on my chest above the heart.

My body became immovably rooted: breath was drawn out of my lungs as if by some huge magnet. Soul and mind instantly lost their physical bondage and streamed out like a fluid piercing light from my every pore. The flesh was as though dead; yet in my intense awareness I knew that never before had I been fully alive. My sense of identity was no longer narrowly confined to a body but embraced the circumambient atoms. People on distant streets seemed to be moving gently over my own remote periphery. The roots of plants and trees appeared through a dim transparency of the soil; I discerned the inward flow of their sap.

The whole vicinity lay bare before me. My ordinary frontal vision now changed to a vast spherical sight, simultaneously all-perceptive. Through the back of my head I saw men strolling far down Rai Ghat Lane, and noticed also a white cow that was leisurely approaching. When she reached the open ashram gate, I observed her as though with my two physical eyes. After she had passed behind the brick wall of the courtyard, I saw her clearly still.

All objects within my panoramic gaze trembled and vibrated like quick motion pictures. My body, Master’s, the pillared courtyard, the furniture and floor, the trees and sunshine occasionally became violently agitated until all melted into a luminescent sea; even as sugar crystals thrown into a glass of water, dissolve after being shaken. The unifying light alternated with materializations of form, the metamorphoses revealing the law of cause and effect in creation. (pp. 165-167)

Although spiritual emergency experiences have been shared with others, as

recorded by mystics, shamans, and figures of religious history throughout the ages,

ordinary individuals who experience such phenomena are usually of the belief that their

sense of self-identity is fragmenting. Sensing that old beliefs and values no longer have

meaning, their concept of personal reality is dramatically changed. Consequently, even

one who has no known personal vulnerability or family history of mental illness may

wonder if he or she is experiencing a psychosis or having psychotic-like symptoms

(Sperry, 2001).

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In previous years, people who experienced these extreme mental and physical

states would have usually been considered psychotic by those adhering to Western

psychiatric standards. However, a significant number of these individuals have been able

to successfully move through the experience with an increased sense of well-being and a

more positive outlook on life (S. Grof, 1983, 2000; C. Grof & S. Grof, 1990). Hence,

years of personal experience and clinical research in experiential psychotherapy, led the

Grofs to challenge the conventional Western view and reevaluate its perspective in

association with non-ordinary states of consciousness (S. Grof, 1983; S. Grof & C. Grof,

1989b).

Assagioli’s influence on Grof. Darlene Viggiano, a scholar of the spiritual

emergence process, expressed her belief that Assagioli was Grof’s greatest early literary

influence (Viggiano, 2011). Citing Battista (1996), Viggiano (2011) noted that Assagioli

observed that patients displayed an “existential crisis in which a person begins to

question actively the meaning of existence” (p. 59). Viggiano claimed that Assagioli

“saw this crisis as natural and nonpathological,” although he was equally aware that ego

inflation could occur if the spiritual awakening came without personal maturation (p. 46).

Quoting Assagioli (1988/1991), Viggiano (2011) added:

Spiritual development in a person is a long and arduous adventure, a journey through strange lands, full of wonders, but also beset with difficulties and dangers. . . . Disturbances that are spiritual in origin are becoming more and more frequent today because the number of people troubled by spiritual needs, whether consciously or unconsciously, is increasing. Furthermore, because of the greater complexity of modern man and in particular the complexity of the obstacles put up by his critical mind, spiritual development has become a more difficult and complicated inner process. It is therefore useful to take an overall look at the nervous and psychological disturbances that can occur at the various stages of spiritual development, throughout the transformation process, and to give some guidelines on the most appropriate and effective ways of curing them. (p. 116)

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Drawing a parallel to the crises of S. Grof’s spiritual emergencies, Viggiano

(2011) went on to note four crucial stages of spiritual realization recognized by Assagioli

(1965/1993) as being crises preceding the spiritual awakening, crises caused by spiritual

awakening, reactions to the spiritual awakening, and the phases of the process of

transmutation.

Blazing the trail for S. Grof, Assagioli (1988/1991) drew attention to the

similarities between the four crucial stages and mental illness, adding that he had even

observed some cases where spiritual awakening could trigger disturbances. Viggiano

(2011) went on to quote Assagioli (1988/1991), who wrote:

Sometimes disturbances are produced or made worse by excessive personal effort on the part of those aspiring to spiritual life with a view to forcing their own inner development. Such efforts bring about the repression rather than the transformation of the lower aspects of the personality, and they greatly intensify the struggle, resulting in excessive nervous and psychological tension. (p. 126)

It is Viggiano’s (2011) belief that this situation may possibly be the most

significant example of what S. Grof has referred to as a spiritual emergency, primarily

because “what looks like an illness comes about from spiritual endeavors meant to aid or

speed inner development” (p. 47). Assagioli (1988/1991) further wrote, “When the

process of psychospiritual transformation reaches its final and decisive stage, it

sometimes produces intense suffering and an inner darkness which has been referred to

by Christian mystics as the ‘dark night of the soul’” (pp. 126-127).

Viggiano (2011) also credits Assagioli (1965/1993) in preceding S. Grof in the

recognition of the positive aftermath of spiritual crises, as part of “the path of Self-

realization” (p. 52). Noting the “great joy of the mystics, despite their suffering” (p. 47),

Viggiano went on to mention that Assagioli observed that such suffering “has spiritual

causes and great spiritual value,” having been called the “mystical crucifixion” or

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“mystical death” and being “followed by the glorious spiritual resurrection which . . . is

more than adequate compensation for what has been endured, and represents the fullness

of spiritual health” (Assagioli, 1988/1991, p. 127).

S. Grof (2000) encountered a challenge, however, when attempting to categorize

non-ordinary experiences for the purpose of diagnostic clarity between incidents of

psychosis and spiritual emergency. Since functional psychoses are more psychologically

defined than medically differentiated, it is impossible to categorically define the varieties

of spiritual emergency via physiological symptomology. A more viable approach to

defining the appropriate criteria is to examine the phenomenology of the non-ordinary

state of consciousness in question. Following extensive interactions with numerous

individuals in various types of psycho-spiritual crisis, S. Grof was able to roughly

distinguish an assortment of uniquely characteristic features that defined the 11 specific

types of spiritual emergency, including shamanic crisis, awakening of Kundalini,

evidence of unitive consciousness, psychological renewal via a return to the center, crisis

of the psychic opening, past-life experiences, communications with spirit guides and

“channeling,” near-death experiences, close encounters with UFOs and alien abduction,

possession states, and alcoholism and drug addiction. In relevance to this dissertation, I

have focused on the crisis of the psychic opening.

Pathways to transformation. According to C. Grof and S. Grof (1990), in the

medical model embodied in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

5th ed. (DSM-V, American Psychiatric Association, 2013) the psychological and

physical manifestations of these transitional non-ordinary states of consciousness have

been seen as being indicative of a serious disease process. Consequently, those who

experienced a transformational crisis had usually been treated with psychotropic

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medications and hospitalization. C. Grof and S. Grof, however, believed that the medical

response to individuals who are experiencing a transformative crisis was

counterproductive. Long-term dependence on tranquilizers and their related side effects,

as well as the loss of vitality and a compromised lifestyle present an unfortunate contrast

to the less invasive therapeutic support to individuals involved in the transformative crisis

of a spiritual emergency.

While at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California in 1980, Christina Grof

established a “spiritual emergency network” of assistants who could help people who

were having these types of unique experience that were characterized as non-ordinary

states of consciousness with perceptual variations, emotional fluctuation, or

psychosomatic symptoms and commonly defined as psychotic by conventional

psychiatry (Prevatt & Park, 1989). Now a worldwide organization known as the Spiritual

Emergence Network, the United States facility is currently a part of the Stanislav and

Christina Grof Foundation (Spiritual Emergence Network, n.d.). In recognition of a

continued need for information and support to those undergoing spiritual emergencies,

the network still provides phone and email referrals as well as online database

information services.

Other people who have had a spontaneous psychic experience may seek

assistance from authorities that specialize in the study of spontaneous paranormal

phenomena. The Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (IGPP), is

active in the research and counseling of people who are in the midst of psycho-spiritual

emergence and development. As a counseling facility associated with the outpatient clinic

of the psychological institute at the University of Freiburg in Germany, the IGPP noted

that these individuals are often not taken seriously when they describe their psychic

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experiences to listeners who dismiss their accounts as “figments of the imagination, crazy

stories, and/or symptoms of psychological disorder” (para. 30). They added, “This is why

such clients are cautious, anxious and suspicious at the beginning of counseling and why

we try to build up a positive relationship with them immediately” (para. 30).

Each year, the IGPP (2007) receives approximately 800 requests from individuals

asking for help in making sense out of their unusual experiences. Sometimes these

requests come from counseling professionals or other organizations seeking advice on

how to work with clients who have had spiritually emergent experiences.

The American Center for the Integration of Spiritually Transformative

Experiences (n.d.) is another recently established service organization designed to

facilitate the safe integration of STEs. Readily accessible programs within the

organization assist individuals in establishing a greater understanding of their experience

through an online networking site with both peer support and discussion groups.

Associated certification training is also available for qualified professional counselors

and caregivers.

Commenting on the significant differences between a spiritual emergency and

psychosis, Kason (2008) said, “A number of differences in thought processes, emotional

reactions, and behavior distinguish a person who is in a spiritual emergency from one

who is psychotic” (p. 247). Although no one but a qualified mental healthcare

professional can give an exact diagnosis concerning mental illness, she continued, the

following distinctions have proven helpful:

If a person can distinguish between outer and inner experiences, is clearly aware of which inner experiences do not fit into the prevailing world view of reality, is able to function in the world, is able to make discerning judgments, and has appropriate control of his or her emotions, he or she is, by definition, not psychotic. (p. 247)

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Spiritual Transformation in Childhood

According to the typical American parent, there’s “no such thing as ghosts”

(Bielski, 2010). At least that’s what has been commonly told to many children. It’s a

natural thing to say out of concern, since most parents want their children to feel safe and

free from fear of the alleged shadowy figure lurking in the closet. In a like manner, when

children tell of their “invisible” friends, parents have a tendency to rationalize it away by

assuming this is just an overactive imagination. Adults may love to share stories of ghosts

and haunted places, however, given the choice –it seems likely that most people would

rather not live with them.

In There’s Something Under the Bed: Children’s Experiences with the

Paranormal, Bielski (2010) stated:

We live during a time of unprecedented paranormal discussion. All forms of media inundate us with content about ghosts, demons, monsters, and other unexplained phenomena. These subjects are going to filter down to our children; we can’t stop it. And our children are going to have questions, because all children want to figure out the world around them. Of course we must assure our children that they’re safe, but there’s so much they can tell us about the world they see and experience. (p. 16)

Bielski (2010) explained that in the year prior to her birth, her parents purchased a

house that was alleged to be haunted. During the first night of its occupancy, while her

parents were still renovating the structure, they reportedly heard footsteps in an upstairs

hallway that was no longer accessible. Their first night of sleep upstairs was met with the

distinct sound of footsteps in the stairway. Bielski recalled that her first memory of the

house was waking up in her crib at the sound of phantom footsteps. This experience, she

claimed, was one that repeated itself nightly for the next 12 years. In spite of its

repetition, however, her mother’s insistence that the footsteps weren’t real caused more

genuine fear than the idea that perhaps they were real. In denial of these consistent

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events, Bielski’s fear was retained year after year as she apparently lived with a ghost in

her house. To her amusement, however, her father failed to ignore the obvious anomalies,

often saying, “It’s spooks. Go back to sleep” (p. 23).

Since Bielski’s generation left childhood behind, however, and became parents of

their own, there has been a continued trend in psychic growth and development within

the new generation of youth (Goode, 2010). In a recent update of L. Rhine’s (1981)

spontaneous psi experiences survey, Drewes (2012) compared anecdotal material

received from 150 email writers about their children’s purported psi experiences. In

contrast to L. Rhine’s receipt of letters referring to precognitive, clairvoyant, and

telepathic experiences, however, Drewes reported that a majority of her responses dealt

with seeing and/or hearing spirits.

According to Bourguignon (1976), the practice of mediumship frequently takes

place while the medium is in what is referred to as a “possession trance” (detailed earlier)

in which an alleged incorporeal agency takes possession of a medium’s volition, speech,

and bodily movements. Hageman et al. (2010) later confirmed the term incorporation

being used by Brazilian Spiritistic groups to describe situations when mediumship

practitioners allow themselves to be taken over by a spirit entity. A follow-up survey of

Brazilian Candomblé claimant mediums (Hageman & Krippner, 2012) found the initial

age of “incorporation” for female participants ranged from the late teen years to early

young adulthood, with their male contemporaries having the original experience in their

early young adult years.

In a recent qualitative study of parent and child impressions of ADCs in children

aged 4 to 12 years, Jeska (2012) revealed a variety of experiences from the interviews she

conducted that ranged from fear reactions in perceived monster interactions to welcomed

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interactions with deceased family members and etheric playmates. During the interview

process, the mothers openly discussed their child’s ADCs in full detail, greatly due to the

child’s parental sharing of the ADCs or being present at the time it occurred. All mothers

were also in acceptance of the ADC, both validating it for their child and for the most

part, desiring its continuance into adulthood. Some mothers actively pursued community

support groups, healers, mediums, and psychics, while others expressed a desire for more

public acceptance of ADCs.

In summation, Jeska (2012) felt that the mothers of children experiencing ADCs

were more likely to pursue a spiritual path that encourages, validates, and promotes

receptivity towards an acceptance of ADCs. Older children had the cognitive ability to

regulate their emotions and articulate their thoughts clearly enough to effectively

communicate with both their mother and the spirit, while the younger children sought out

their mothers when feeling sadness or fear.

Acknowledgement and Application of Mediumistic Abilities

Implementation of the spiritual problem. Due to the unfamiliarity, confusion,

and distress of the psychic opening, it’s likely that people may often fail to share their

experiences with others for some time. It is common for people to fear embarrassment or

a skeptical response when speaking about such things in the presence of others

(Auerbach, 1986). Thus, when people do disclose experiences of a psychic opening, they

may preface it with, “You’re going to think I’m crazy” or “You probably won’t believe

this.” Auerbach suspected that what the individual really is saying is, “I’m going crazy

and I don’t have anyone to talk to” (p. 109).

In an effort to reduce the negative stigma associated with these psychic

experiences, Lukoff, Lu, and Turner (1998) attempted to create a wider recognition of the

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spiritual and psychical experiences that might produce the indicators associated with

these disorders in the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association,

1994). While the DSM-IV was under construction, the Spiritual Emergence Network

proposed a new diagnostic category to the task force in response to a concern that the

mental health system might take a pathological approach to the spiritual crisis (Lukoff et

al., 1998). The objective was to increase the clinician’s awareness of spiritual issues in

treatment by linking a religious or spiritual problem V Code to clients who may display

behaviors reflecting signs of psychopathology, yet are actually having a spiritual or

religious experience not attributable to a mental disorder.

Using an existing V Code in the DSM-III-R as a comparison, Lukoff (1985) made

an analogy between what he referred to as a Mystical Experience with Psychotic Features

and the category of Uncomplicated Bereavement. The bereavement category specifies

that even when the period of bereavement following a significant loss meets the criteria

for major depression, the depression assessment should not be given because the

symptoms are the result of “a normal reaction to the death of a loved one” (American

Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 361). Likewise, according to Lukoff (1988), people in

the midst of a spiritual emergency may also appear to have a mental disorder if viewed

out of context, when they are actually experiencing a “normal reaction” that merits a non-

pathological diagnosis.

Proposed to the American Psychiatric Association task force on the DSM-IV in

1991 as a V Code category titled Psychospiritual Conflict, it was later revised to include

religious problems and accepted as Religious or Spiritual Problem in 1993 (Lukoff et al.,

1998). Coded V62.89, the category states:

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This category can be used when the focus of clinical attention is a religious or spiritual problem. Examples include distressing experiences that involve loss or questioning of faith, problems associated with conversion to a new faith, or questioning of spiritual values that may not necessarily be related to an organized church or religious institution. (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 685)

Modifications of the original V Code definition for religious and spiritual

problems reduced the DSM-IV inclusion to a four-line description. Authors of the

proposal argued that the published version reduced the clarity of the new category and

was compromised by the loss of its more descriptive original definitions (Turner, Lukoff,

Barnhouse, & Lu, 1995).

While the DSM-IV and DSM-5 Religious or Spiritual Problem V Code has

provided a valuable means of bringing attention to client religious and spiritual

functioning, it has been slow to gain recognition amongst clinicians (Scott, Garver,

Richards, & Hathaway, 2003). One reason for this reluctance of acceptance may be due

to the tendency for third party payers to avoid reimbursement for V Code diagnoses.

Consequently, clinicians may routinely ignore them, even when appropriate.

In spite of an extensive effort by the DSM-5 task force, numerous associated work

groups and an overwhelming response of constructive feedback from the clinical

community, there have still been a number of assessment criteria concerns with the

manual’s latest edition (e.g., Comer, 2014; Frances, 2013). The Religious or Spiritual

Problem V Code retains its presence, however, with no change of wording from the

previous edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Once individuals have recognized that they are having spiritual or religious

experiences (rather than going crazy), the possibility of developing alleged psychic

abilities emerges. The next section discusses how psychic abilities may be developed

according to the precepts of various traditions.

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The importance of psycho-spiritual emergence and development. This topic

can be illustrated by reviewing the history of Puerto Rico. Since the late 19th century

Puerto Ricans have experienced the combined influence of Euroamerican and Latin

American cultures. Exposed to intensive cultural changes, yet retaining a distinctive core

of cultural tradition, they have also inherited the two equally popular, but competitive

world views of the scientific and the spiritual. One aspect of this unique situation is

represented by the persistence of a wide spread religious healing cult known as

Espiritismo. Its ritual practices are centered on working with spirits in several small,

household-based centros mostly presided over by female mediums who hold regular

weekly sessions in order to heal people experiencing a wide range of health and social

problems (Koss-Chioino, 2005).

For a three-year period in the late 1970s, Koss-Chioino (1992) coordinated the

Therapist-Spiritist project in association with the Mental Health Division of the Puerto

Rican Department of Health. The project was aimed at establishing an interface with

Espiritismo (Spiritism) as a community resource, under the assumption that these popular

healing practices were helpful as supportive care to clients suffering from chronic mental

illness. Koss-Chioino asked mediums working at community mental health centers to

describe their process of psycho-spiritual development where psychic openings are

brought into mediumship training and the person’s psychic abilities are developed under

the tutelage of a senior medium (Krippner, 1994).

While accounts of traditional healers and shamans in many societies focus on the

importance of their dealings with the forces of darkness and symbols of everything

negative or evil (e.g., Eliade & Trask, 1964; Wallace, 1966), few of these accounts

describe the depth of psychology involved in the initiation process. Initiation is described

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as “a process or stage of psychological development not formally celebrated by mental

health professionals or medical doctors, nor thought of as a requisite to becoming a

psychological or medical healer” (Koss-Chioino, 1992, p. 32). However, as Koss-Chioino

reported, certain internal events are attributed to external sources, and reported sensations

and mentations are conceptualized as initiatory ordeals rather than as signs of mental

illness (Krippner, 1994).

Koss-Chioino (1992) described the first initiatory experience of the Espiritistas as

“an awakening of consciousness to spirits” (p. 33) that usually begins in early childhood

or adolescence. Spiritists described their initiation process into the role of a healer as a

personal transformation, often preceded by a personal crisis or serious illness, whereas

psychotherapists and medical doctors simply considered their vocational motivation as an

appropriate step in the development of their career path.

All of the healers recalled their initial experiences as being vivid and intense,

triggered in several cases by a concern about the possible or actual death of a loved one.

Even as young children, they were able to identify the visiting spirits as parents,

grandparents, siblings and other close relatives who had previously “passed over.” While

the types of illness associated with the initiatory experience may vary from a Western

perspective, most of the healers could have been considered to be suffering from a

psychiatric disorder. However, with two exceptions, none of the healers had ever

received mental health care or were diagnosed as mentally ill (Koss-Chioino, 1992).

For mediums who intend to provide a service to others, developing their

capability for ADCs is absolutely essential. Mediums from Puerto Rico in Koss-

Chioino’s (1992) study reported that even though during the earlier stages of their

development as healers, frequent spontaneous incorporations of spirits occurred, they

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were gradually able to exert considerable control over entering the spirit world, and

eventually could do so at will, except during periods of emergency or crisis when a

guiding spirit might suddenly interrupt the medium’s daily activity. Koss-Chioino

concluded that they utilized a high degree of control and that the incorporation led to

behavior considered adaptive by the medium’s community.

When individuals have had an experience of psycho-spiritual emergence, it

appears critical for them to integrate these experiences (IGPP, 2007), even if they do not

attempt to develop their alleged newly found capabilities. Beyond the self-coherence and

preservation benefits of integrating the initial opening experience, further development of

the abilities can enhance the individual’s life as well as that of others. For example, in

Arcangel’s (2005) documented collection of afterlife encounters to help mourning

families, hospice workers, and others who had unanswered questions about life after

death, one participant shared that his deceased wife had warned him about the September

11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States by depicting the events visually (although

he did not share this revelation with anyone out of fear of embarrassment).

Krippner (2006) found in his review of ADC that individuals who engage in this

communication with loved ones experience many benefits:

The available literature has described several types of effects on [after-death communication] experients, for examples, providing comfort and reassurance that the relationship continues even after death; giving advice and helping survivors solve problems; protecting the experients by giving them appropriate warnings of impending dangers; providing a sense of life purpose and meaning; confirming the hope that there is life after death; achieving closure or concluding ‘unfinished business’; reducing anger, guilt, and/or anxiety concerning the deceased; demonstrating that the loved one has not forgotten the survivor; providing information not previously known by the bereaved; assisting the survivor to make his or her own transition at the time of death. (p. 182)

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He concluded that those who engage in ADC feel some positive reward from the

experience and that these communications are therapeutic in nature:

Often, the experient has a severe debilitating mood of depression or grief dissolved as a consequence of a change of outlook—the experient comes to believe that the deceased is not suffering in any way and is happy. In other cases, relationship issues are resolved, or unfinished business is concluded. (p. 174)

In an apparent acknowledgement of the psychological benefits from ADCs by a

significant portion of the grieving population of the United States, a recent Google search

of the phrase “psychic medium readings” by Beischel et al. (2014-2015) produced more

than 1.6 million results. With such an extensive demonstration of this public initiative,

the authors of this study suggested it would be:

beneficial for healthcare providers, counselors, caregivers, social workers, mental health professionals, chaplains, grief workers, palliative and hospice care professionals, volunteers, and other supportive individuals to be aware of the basics regarding the relationship between mediumship readings and grief in order to best serve the bereaved population. (p. 170)

Concluding Thoughts

The question of immortality and the survival of bodily death has been a central

focus of human interest since the beginning of human consciousness. From the religious

ideologies of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and others (Armstrong, 2006) to the more

contemporary inquiries into the question of life after death (Chopra, 2006; Moody, 1975;

Ring, 1984) there has been a genuine curiosity in the continuation of human

consciousness beyond one’s given lifetime.

Shamans, yogis, renowned religious leaders, and—for the purposes of this

dissertation—claimant mediums have the ability to access non-ordinary states of

consciousness and play key roles in facilitating communication between living

individuals and discarnate beings (Tart, 2009). Doing so can reap important benefits such

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as enhancing one’s own life as well as that of others through gaining important

information that is not necessarily available by other means.

However, to reach the point of being able to access non-ordinary states and

receive important messages, individuals must undergo psycho-spiritual emergence and

development (e.g., C. Grof & S. Grof, 1990; S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989b; Kason, 2008).

While this process can be enlivening and enlightening, it also presents serious potential

risks including psychic and psychological crises, a sense of self-disintegration, and

misdiagnosis and inappropriate psychiatric treatment.

Given the importance of the medium’s work, coupled with the necessity and risks

of psycho-spiritual emergence and development, it is critical to continue research on this

topic and develop supportive methods for helping potential mediums work through this

process. Consequently, contributing to a better understanding of the initial psychic

opening experience and one’s subsequent psycho-spiritual development has been the

focus of this doctoral research.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

Choice of Method

In an attempt to stimulate a wider interest in empirical research and encourage the

establishment of a transpersonal network of research psychologists, Lukoff and Lu (1988)

wrote the first of an anticipated series of articles in the Journal of Transpersonal

Psychology that surveyed the use of qualitative research. Citing an enhanced professional

awareness of the near-death experience, Lukoff and Lu took the opportunity to recognize

the works of Ring (1984) and Greyson and Flynn (1984) in their use of empirical inquiry

in near-death studies. Later, acknowledging that conventional Western psychological

studies had taken more of a quantitative rather than qualitative approach to research,

Patrik (1994) suggested the use of phenomenology in the study of meditative experiences

rather than the traditional physiological monitoring, personality trait examination, or the

comparison of meditation with other therapeutic techniques.

Creswell (1998) recognized what he referred to as the five traditions in the

inventory of tools that one has at their access in qualitative research. Sorting through a

wide variety of systematic options that were being utilized in assorted fields of study,

such as anthropology, biology, psychology, sociology, and history, he identified what he

considered the five most functional approaches to a method of inquiry that was once

considered “ethnographic” and “monolithic” (p. 3). Represented by specialists such as

Denzin (1989), Giorgi and Giorgi (2003), Hammersley and Atkinson (1995), Moustakas

(1990, 1994), Stake (1995), and Strauss and Corbin (1990), he selected biography, case

study, phenomenology, grounded theory, and ethnography as the five most representative

disciplinary traditions in the field.

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Denzin (1989) has defined a biographical study as “the studied use and collection

of life documents that describe turning point moments in an individual’s life” (p. 69).

However, Creswell (1998) added that an oral history is an equally popular variation

where the researcher is gathering “a personal recollection of events, their causes, and

their effects from an individual or several individuals” (p. 49).

According to Creswell (1998), a case study is appropriate when the participant

has qualitative knowledge about life events that are unique to the topic of study. Kvale

(1996) has described the qualitative research interview as a construction site for

knowledge and the lived world of the subject and his or her relation to it. Both structured

and unstructured interviews are common processes within the case study format.

The case study method affords invaluable personal contact that helps to develop a

better understanding of the participant and their life experiences. This method should also

allow the researcher and the participant an opportunity to build a relationship that will

uncover information that may not be readily available through other means. This

interactive aspect of a case study aids in the continued development or expansion of the

interview questions, enabling the receipt of more in-depth data (Creswell, 1998).

As noted by Creswell (1998), a person-centered case study is designed to focus on

the key events and experiences of the individual’s life, whereas the phenomenological

study “focuses on the understanding of a concept or phenomenon” (p. 38). There are

several approaches available when selecting a particular method of phenomenology.

Variations range from a strict reductionistic approach taken by Amedeo Giorgi (Giorgi &

Giorgi, 2003) to the heuristic method described by Clark Moustakas (1990) as being “a

personalized search for the qualities, conditions, and relationships that underlie a

fundamental question, issue, or concern, often enhanced by the researcher’s internal

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frame of reference and sense of intuition” (pp. 11-12). “From the beginning and

throughout an investigation,” Moustakas elaborated, “heuristic research involves self-

search, self-dialogue, and self discovery; the research question and methodology flow out

of inner awareness, meaning and inspiration” (p. 11). Thus, the heuristic method retains

the essence of the person in the experience (Douglass & Moustakas, 1985).

While phenomenological studies emphasize the meaning of an experience for a

group of individuals, the grounded theory method attempts to understand a situation to

the extent of generating a theory based upon how people act and react to a particular

phenomenon. The theory is generated through the collection and categorization of

information established by interviews with usually 20 to 30 participants and its

continuous refinement by sorting through various factors of the resultant information

(Creswell, 1998).

Ethnography takes on a larger perspective, establishing the description and

interpretation of a cultural or social group or system (Creswell, 1998). With its genesis in

cultural anthropology, ethnography typically involves a prolonged observation of the

group in question, primarily through participant observation while the researcher is

immersed in the day-to-day lives of the people or by way of one-on-one interviews with

the members of the group.

Most of the traditional models offered a beneficial component for the research

inquiry I wished to pursue. However, because of the uniqueness of each method, none of

them stood alone as the single best approach for my study. Therefore, in order to

establish a more comprehensive understanding of the initial psychic experience and

subsequent transformative development endured by the participant, I proposed a mixture

of methods approach and conducted a person-centered multiple case study. Consequently,

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this project consisted of semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions that

assured an autobiographical account of the participant’s relevant events surrounding the

initial psychic experience and subsequent spiritual development history.

Participants and Selection Process

To assure that the participants for this study had experienced an initial “moment

of recognition” that included an acknowledgement of their mediumistic abilities and the

subsequent development of those associated skills, participants were selected from a

group of certified research mediums pre-screened by the Windbridge Institute for

Applied Research in Human Potential in Tucson, Arizona. Windbridge Institute

certification includes a rigorous eight-step process that produces a personal and medical

history, professional peer assessment and rapport, blinded test readings, and an

educational orientation on the history of researching mediums, human participants

research, and the grieving process (Beischel, 2007).

Nineteen Windbridge Certified Research Mediums were sent an email letter of

invitation to participate in a research project devoted to the acknowledged identification

of the initial mediumship experience. Six of the 19 replied as being interested in the

project. However, when I made a follow-up contact to acknowledge their research

interest, only five returned their Saybrook Institutional Review Board acceptance forms.

Consequently, an additional sixth participant was recruited from the original 19

Windbridge Certified Research Mediums.

Completion of the consent form confirms personal approval from the participant

based upon information provided concerning the rights of a research participant, the

specific purpose of the study, the procedures to be used, the possible risk factors,

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safeguards, potential benefits associated with the study, and the procedure for terminating

participation in the research study.

Procedure

Data was collected by way of a pre-arranged, mutually convenient phone

interview utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire. Phone times were scheduled to

accommodate and maximize participant comfort within the interview environment at

either the participant’s home or office, free from interruption. Participants were made to

feel at ease in the confidential discussion of their personal psychic development. In order

to establish a sufficient rapport, phone interview sessions ran approximately one hour and

were recorded, then transcribed for data analysis.

Instruments or Research Interviews

Since this study required detailed biographical accounts of the participants’

significant life events leading up to the moment of psychic recognition, the participant

interview utilized a semi-structured questionnaire in compliance with Saybrook

Institutional Review Board specifications for an oral history. Interview questions were

designed to ascertain the psychological impact at the moment of psychic

acknowledgement and capture a biographical composite of the participants’ family,

social, and spiritual influences. Supplemental to the audio interviews, most participants

also provided access to a previously written documentation of their experiences in the

form of a personal website.

Interview questions were sufficiently open-ended for the provision of additional

details when appropriate and focused on the following areas of interest:

1. What was your initial mediumship experience?

2. What was your age at the time of the experience?

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3. Describe the experience.

4. How did your experience vary from conventional reality?

5. What was your reaction to the experience?

6. Did you think you were having a mental disturbance?

7. Did you seek out others with whom you could share the experience?

8. How comfortable were you in talking to others about the experience?

9. What was your understanding of the experience?

10. Did you have a support group or supportive atmosphere when discussing the experience with others?

11. Was your biographical background supportive or restrictive concerning non-conventional experiences? (for example, your religious association)

12. How did you cope with the experience?

13. How did you further develop these abilities?

A copy of the open-ended interview questions list is included in Appendix A.

Data Analysis

The interview content was thematically analyzed (Miles & Huberman, 1994) with

reference to circumstances of the initially recalled psychic experience, as prescribed by

the Moustakas modification of the van Kaam method of analysis of phenomenological

data (Moustakas, 1994). Data analysis with the Moustakas modification systematically

reduced participant interview transcriptions to a cluster of thematic invariant constituents

that “develop a composite description of the meanings and essences of the experience,

representing the group as a whole” (p. 121). Specific items of interest included the

participant’s age at the time of the incident, the level of anxiety or distress experienced

during the incident, and any perceived significantly relevant follow-up experiences

occurring after the original incident.

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In order to gain a better understanding of the participants’ subsequent adjustments

to the experience, I also utilized what Creswell (1998) has referred to as an interpretive

biographical study. Key areas of background interest included the religious and/or

spiritual history of the participant, the belief in and acceptance of psychic abilities

amongst peers and other members of the family, and the level of receptivity and

acceptance for the participants’ alleged psychic abilities.

A detailed look at the data revealed a thematic reduction of the participant

interviews based upon the primary questions of interest to this study. Each participant

interview was examined for content unique to the specific questions of concern and

identified for comparative content analysis with the other participant interviews. The

essence of each question was considered as a structural theme for the experience.

A tabular representation of the structural themes, citing specific representative

examples of the thematic component was created for each participant interview and

documented in Chapter 4 of this study. Summarized individual textual descriptions for

each participant (see Appendix C) were then extracted and detailed from the tabular

representations and interview content.

A collective examination of the individual textual descriptions revealed a

component analysis of the thematic attributes common to all six participants. The

component analysis was then reduced to the first four paragraphs of the results section.

Limitations, Delimitations, and Research Issues

Although the multiple case study method offers a valuable means of obtaining

relevant information about the personal histories of individuals directly associated with a

specific topic of inquiry, the method does have its limitations. Since the person-centered

interview in this study was conducted within a relaxed setting, it was anticipated that a

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greater depth of understanding of the initial psychic experience could be generated with

increased rapport as the questioning evolved throughout the course of the interview. This

method is not without its limitations, however, as one is still reliant upon the memory and

honesty of the participant for the acquisition of data. Further delimitations reduced

participants to adults who were fluent in spoken English and resided within the United

States.

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Chapter 4: Results

A brief summation of the case study biographical interview data in this research

inquiry tends to indicate that the STE of the claimant medium may be described, not so

much as a single experiential occurrence, but more like a sequence of developmental

experiences. Each experience contained an encounter with a single or multiple spiritual

entities that may or may not be considered as guides. Depending upon the age of the

individual and the existing situation at the time of the initial experience, the encounter

was considered either fearfully traumatic or merely an anomalistic variation of the

individual’s concept of reality.

Following an acknowledgement of the initial experience, the individual’s level of

comfort in the assimilation and accommodation of this paradigm shift into his or her

concept of reality was greatly dependent upon the social support system of the individual.

An open-minded, loving support system of peers and older family members was

considered to be a more beneficial environment to the healthy psychological

accommodation of the developmental process for the individual. A more rigid and

restrictive environment, with a less receptive acknowledgement of the individual’s

experience appeared to foster feelings of conflict and self-doubt. Little or no access to an

open discussion of the experience led to a questioning of the individual’s mental health

by either the individual themselves, or surrounding caregivers, peers, and family

members.

Since the experience may be considered spiritual in nature, the individual’s

concept of organized religion or personal spirituality often shaped the parameters of the

experience. The adjustment level of comfort for the implementation of the newly

imposed psycho-spiritual experience in association with the prior or existing religious

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influence was dependent upon the degree of liberal or conservative control imposed by

the philosophy of the religious doctrine. Personal spirituality adjustment, however,

appeared to be more flexible in its accommodation.

Pursuit of a career in mediumship appeared to be dependent upon the ease of

adjustment to the initial experience and the availability of a positive fostering influence.

This influence was observed in the form of parental acceptance, professional support

personnel, spiritual guides, or available supportive literature concerning the field of

interest.

Initial Experience and Age of Experience

All six participants (see Table 1) described their initial purported mediumship

experience as being an encounter with a discarnate being(s). While four of the six

participants identified their experience as being associated with their childhood (between

the ages of three and eleven), the remaining two acknowledged having their experience

during the adult years (ages 29 and 35). After further thought, however, P5 also admitted

to the possibility of experiencing spirit visitations when a child. P4, also having had the

experience during adulthood, remembered having what she called “intuitive experiences”

in her youth.

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Table 1

Participants’ Initial Experiences

Participant 1 2 3 4 5 6

Initial Experience

Scary spirit

Feeling of Being Watched

Saw and heard imaginary people. Continual visits.

Dead girl visitation.

Possessed by spirit in beginning of psychic development class.

Guided by spirit to get assistance for her mother.

Age of Experience

4 6 During childhood (mediumship at age of 11)

Intuitive during childhood, formally aware at age of 35.

Unacknowledged “Warm-up” experiences in childhood, formally aware at age of 29.

Between the age of 3 and 4. (1957).

Description of, Reaction to, and Concerns about the Experience

Two of the six participants (see Table 2) considered their experiences to be

frightening, with little to no parental support in coping with the discarnate beings. Both

experiences were described as being an unwelcome intrusion. Each participant assumed

he or she was mentally disturbed, with both later receiving associated psychological

diagnoses. At the age of 15, P1 suffered from depression at home and anxiety at school.

A psychiatrist prescribed anti-anxiety medication and hypnosis sessions with a

hypnotherapist. Following her initial hypnosis session, the therapist concluded she was

merely very psychic. After hearing voices at the age of 21, P3 was diagnosed with

multiple personality disorder, currently referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Following various types of therapy, she was convinced by a group therapy experience

that she had been misdiagnosed.

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Table 2

Description of, Reaction to, and Concerns about the Experience

Participant Attitudes about Experience

1 2 3 4 5 6

Description Scary Spirit visitation. Only person in the room. Felt like people were staring. Later told she spoke to unseen at the age of two.

Feeling of being watched. Saw being outlines. Could sense and hear them.

Ghost pirate visit. Smelled of rotting flesh. Could hear it breathing and felt water droplets on her head.

Past “spirit” visits from mother. No formal recognition. First formal visit by dead girl, who asked to resolve her murder.

Possessed by a spirit in her psychic development class. Eyes twitched, hands raised. Spirit entered her body.

Lived in wooded area. Alone with mother, who fell to floor from blood clot in her leg. Spirit escorted them to safety.

Reaction Fear No fear. Kept calm. Rationalized with imagination.

Frightening. Lived in a haunted house.

Reluctant to believe. Previously a skeptic.

Not scared by the experience. Realized it was real.

No fear of spirit guide. Complete confidence in her ability to help.

Suspected Mental Disturbance

Parents felt she was crazy. At 15, suffered depression at home and anxiety at school. Psychiatrist prescribed anti-anxiety medication and referred to hypnotherapist. After hypnosis session, therapist validated that she was very psychic.

Never felt as though she was losing her mind. No mental illness history. Fraternal twin diagnosed as having a “schizo-affective disorder” at the age of 20.

Thought she was crazy. Always wondered what was wrong with her (11 years). Heard voices at 21. Diagnosed multiple personality disorder. Her therapy convinced her it was incorrect.

Never thought she was mentally disturbed, but had a difficult time believing her experience. Would have appreciated more validation from police.

Never questioned her sense of reality. Didn’t completely understand what was happening, but knew it wasn’t from a mental problem. Her brother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Never doubted her sanity. However, became concerned about her teenage behavior patterns using the black arts.

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The remaining four participants reported reactions to their experiences that ranged

from passive observation to reluctant acceptance. Two participants reported siblings with

mental disturbances. P2 had a fraternal twin that was diagnosed with a schizoaffective

disorder. P5 had a brother who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Variance from Reality

All participants (as shown in Table 3) reported experiences with distinct

variations from conventional reality. P3, convinced that she was raised in a “haunted

house,” felt that she was able to see people walking through walls and coming out of the

ceiling. P4, initially skeptical about the nature of her experience, saw an apparition that

appeared solid, but had her limbs severed from her body. The discarnate entity asked P4

to assist in her murder investigation. Subsequently she complied and assisted the police

with the investigation. However, she indicated that a more consistent feedback of police

information would have been better appreciated for a more secure validation of the

experience.

Table 3

Variance from Reality

Participant Variance from Reality

1 Presence outside the window

2 Conscious awareness that the presences were not real people, even though she could hear and sense them.

3 Could see people walking through walls and dropping out of the ceiling.

4 Appearance of girl was solid, but could see where arms and legs had been severed from her body.

5 Could sense spirits getting too close and had to set her own physical boundaries.

6 Exceptionally young age, but realized there was something different about the spirit guide.

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Sharing the Experience and Associated Level of Comfort

The same two participants who indicated a fear response to their initial experience

and who were later diagnosed with a mental disturbance (see Table 4), were prohibited

from discussing the experience with their parents. Both of them were terrified to discuss

the experiences with their mother. Subsequent physical punishment from her mother

taught P1 to avoid discussion of her experiences. P3 had an equal fear of expressing her

feelings or discussing the experiences with siblings and friends. This was greatly due to a

conservative repression of challenging thought, strongly enforced by her religious

mother.

Both participants, however, were later able to share their experiences with friends.

P1 shared her experience with a playmate friend on an overnight sleepover that was held

at an equally “haunted” neighbor’s house. The similarity of her experience at the friend’s

house validated the experiences of her own house. In her late teens, she was able to

establish a closer relationship with her father and brother that allegedly continued

intuitively following their deaths. P3 was able to rationalize her experiences in her late

teens via a Catholic friend who suggested that she might have had an experience with

“unfriendly” angels that were trying to “get her attention.”

Another two of the six participants were at ease in discussing the experience, as

well as other spiritual interests, with their parents. P2 was able to comfortably discuss

meditation and out-of-body experiences in her early teens. P6 was too young to discuss

the initial experience at the time of its occurrence. However, she later discussed spiritual

matters with her father and speculated on the existence of God.

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The last two participants, having had their experience during the adult years, had

no associated parental interactions. Instead, they discussed their experience with

contemporary adult authority figures. P5 shared her experience with the instructor and

student members of her psychic development class. P4, being more of a skeptic, had a

slight initial hesitation to share her experience. However, after encouragement from the

deceased entity, she was convinced to share her experience with the police in order to

help solve the murder case. Consequently, she became more comfortable in her role as an

assistant to the detective in charge of the investigation.

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Table 4

Sharing the Experience and Associated Level of Comfort

Participant 1 2 3 4 5 6

Shared with Others

Shared with her playmate friends on “overnights.” Seeing dead people in other houses confirmed her home experiences. Learned not to share with her mother.

Open parental discussion. Meditated during ages 12-14. Had out-of-body experiences. Parental response passive until she got a bad scratch

during an out-of-body experience.

Discouraged by parents from talking with others. No friends.

Shared with police detective. Periodic experience validation.

Shared experience with the psychic development class. Sought validation from Veritas and Windbridge programs.

Shared first experience with parents, but too young to discuss it at length. Adults saw story as too difficult to believe (especially spirit guide potion) but they were grateful.

Level of comfort in sharing experience

Afraid to share with mother, because of mistreatment.

Comfort in taking with parents, and some friends in high school.

Feared personal expression. Mother was a religious conservative.

Reluctant at first. due to the nature of the experience.

Never doubted herself. At ease in sharing the experience.

Too young to be concerned. Parents unable to explain. Later shared her experience with high school friends.

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Understanding of the Experience

All but one participant (see Table 5) believed the initial experience and

subsequent occurrences to be a realistic event of their own interpretation. P1 was aware

that she could sense the dead and predict the upcoming death of people by the age of 10

or 11. P2 was comfortable with her understanding that the spiritual entities she

experienced meant her no harm. However, she was still curious to know why her parents

failed to acknowledge them. P5, who had her initial experience as an adult, was

comfortable with her acknowledgement of a spiritual presence. However, she felt that she

had established physical separation boundaries to avoid the “spiritual occupancy” of her

body.

Table 5

Understanding of the Experience

Participant Understanding of the Experience

1 Was always aware she could sense dead people. At the age of 10 or 11, knew that grandfather was going to die while in hospital for minor surgery.

2 Believed the spirits were not guides, but had no harm intent. Felt the experience was normal, but curious why parents failed to acknowledge the same experience.

3 Thought she was going crazy. Unable to share her experiences, however, tolerated them.

4 Reluctantly accepted the visitation as real.

5 Believed her experiences to be true. As she said, “It’s a knowing.”

6 Believed experience because it happened. No other explanation. Parents saw proof of the results. Mom saved.

P3 was the only individual who failed to establish reconciliation with her

experience during her childhood. Restricted from discussing the experience, she adjusted

to a personal belief that she had a mental impairment during childhood. However, she

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later established a more logical comprehension of her experiences during her late teens

through an extensive reading of the relevant literature available at the time.

Support Group and Supportive Atmosphere

Although variant in duration from the initial experience, all participants were able

to establish a support group (see Table 6) or secure an empathetic friend(s) to assist them

in developing an acceptance of their experience. At the age of eight, P2 was able to

establish a friendship with an elderly woman who lived across the street. As a palm

reader, the new acquaintance was able to introduce her to a sense of being “in tune.” This

participant was also able to establish a peer support group of friends later in high school,

but was cautious about sharing the experience with individuals who were more

conservative in their beliefs.

While in her mid-20s, P1 sought the services of an elderly medium. Encouraged

by her roommate, she wanted to communicate with her recently deceased father, brother,

or grandmother. Halfway through the reading, the medium stopped and surprised her by

saying, “I’m going to give you information to help you to enhance your ability to be a

medium… because you are a medium.” In spite of her protests that she was actually an

occupational therapist and musician with merely an enhanced sense of intuition and no

intention to become a medium, the participant was further surprised to hear the medium

insistently tell her that she actually was going to become a professional medium. “Yes,

you are,” she said, “and I am going to give you some tips and help you.” Although the

participant was courteously attentive, she made no immediate career changes. Nine

months later she returned for another reading, again hoping to connect with her

grandmother. Again, the medium insisted on giving tips on mediumship. “You will want

this information someday,” she said. “Someday you are going to be doing this.”

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The two participants who had their initial experiences as an adult were able to

find a supportive atmosphere through associated professional figures. As an assistant to

the police detective in charge of the murder investigation, P4 found support in the

periodic validation of her experiential information. She found even greater validation,

however, in her successful delivery of psychic information on her popular radio program.

P5 found supportive validation through research participation in both the Veritas and

Windbridge research programs.

Table 6

Support Group or Supportive Atmosphere

Participant Support Group or Supportive Atmosphere

1 Personally close to father and brother (Especially before and after their death). Sought services of a medium while in mid-20s, who validated her abilities as a medium.

2 Became friends at 8 years old with an older woman palm reader across the street. Got a new awareness of being “in tune.”

3 Found a support group in high school, but cautious of those less open.

4 Found books in school library. Found a Catholic friend at 17 years old.

5 Police detective was able to validate and became supportive of her experience.

6 Veritas Research and Windbridge Institute validated experiences.

Discussed spiritual matters with her father. Very intuitive. Talked about existence of God.

Religious or Spiritual Background

Two of the participants (see Table 7) considered themselves to have had a type of

religious influence during their childhood. P3, raised in a formal religious environment

by her conservative mother, was discouraged from becoming a medium because it was

considered to be the work of the devil. At the age of 19, P3 married an extremely

conservative religious man. Following nine years of marriage, however, she divorced and

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remarried a more liberal man with metaphysical interests. P2 was raised in a more liberal

environment and encouraged to find God herself, free from any imposed Biblical or

scriptural doctrines at a very young age. To this day, she believes that this open approach

allowed her to be on her current path in a less hindered manner, free from the potential

conflict of a dogmatic religious background.

The remaining four participants considered themselves “spiritual,” as contrasted

to “religious”: Two participants indicated they had a personal spiritual relationship with

God. Another thought of herself as being spiritually connected since her father and

brother passed in her late teens. The remaining participant was influenced by the “Black

Arts” as a teenager, however, became a Fundamentalist Christian following her final year

of high school. She left the church 12 years later, however, and divorced her minister

husband.

Table 7

Religious or Spiritual Background

Participant Religious or Spiritual Background

1 Not religious. At age 18, strong intuitive connection (spiritual) with her father and brother.

2 Liberal religious background. Free to “find God” on her own from an early age. Believes that “openness” allowed her current path.

3 Her mother was a religious conservative. When 19 yrs. old, married an extremely conservative religious man. Divorced 9 years later. Remarried a metaphysical man.

4 Doesn’t consider herself religious, but has a personal relationship with God.

5 Always connected spiritually with what she referred to as a God or Creator.

6 Currently spiritual, but not religious in her youth. Explored witchcraft as a teenager, but later became concerned. Converted to Fundamentalist Christian for 12 years. Broke from the cult-like organization. Divorced the church minister and remarried.

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Coping with the Experience

All participants eventually found a way to cope with their experiences (see Table

8), directly confronting the spirit intruders and establishing personal physical boundary

limitations. Although she would hide under her blankets and scream into her pillow at

night as a child, P1 was able to overcome her fear by directly communicating with the

spirits that would visit her on a regular basis. In doing so, she later found satisfaction in

validating the feelings of people she’d meet who were grieving the death of loved ones.

With the assistance of her instructor and another professionally employed psychic, P5

was able to establish physical boundaries and limit spirit access to times that fit her own

schedule.

P2 was able to accept her initial feelings of anxiety and came to the

acknowledgement that she was living in a “separate reality” when having spirit

visitations. Realizing that they meant her no harm, she was able to cope with the

experience. P3 was eventually able to deal with her experiences by coping with her fears

through peer interaction and reading numerous books on paranormal topics in the school

library. P4 was able to better cope with her experience through continual validation from

the police department investigation team and the overwhelming success of her

psychically-oriented radio program.

At the age of three or four, P6 had no emotional concerns at the time of her

experience, hence no coping mechanism was needed. Her parents, however, were both

confused and impressed by her ability to secure emergency assistance for her isolated

ailing mother, deep within a heavily forested area through the assistance of who she

described as a beautiful woman with long golden hair.

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Table 8

Coping with the Experience

Participant Coping with the Experience

1 Initially, she would hide under the covers at night and scream into her pillow. Later she overcame the fear by communicating with the entity, enabling her ability to push it away.

2 Believed she lived in a different reality. Accepted anxious, worrisome feelings, but she realized that nothing would cause her harm.

3 Learned to cope by not talking. At the age of 17, a Catholic friend helped her rationalize her experiences. Read several metaphysical books from the school library.

4 Learned to cope via police assistance and the success of her psychic call-in radio program. Husband always supported her in 27 years of marriage.

5 Learned how to establish and maintain safe physical boundary distances from spirits.

6 No coping problem with first experience. Became concerned with the use of witchcraft in teen years. Received a warning from the psychic mother of a high school friend that turned her religious.

Further Development

All participants pursued careers as professionally employed mediums (see Table

9). Three of them were encouraged to continue their study and pursuit of mediumship by

other professionals in that field. P1 was persuaded to become a medium by the persistent

encouragement of an empathetic medium she initially visited for a reading. Although P1

was initially in denial to the suggestion, the medium eventually became her mentor. P2

was initially encouraged to be more open to her intuition by her palmist neighbor at the

age of eight. Two weeks after her encounter with the spirit of a young murder victim, P4

was overwhelmed with several other spirits wishing to communicate with her. Seeking a

means of better control and assistance with the murder case, she asked a psychic claimant

to help her with the investigation. However, the psychic refused. Declaring it “her

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awakening,” the psychic told P4 that she needed to impose control and set her own hours

for spirit contact.

Table 9

Further Development

Participant Further Development

1 In her mid-20s, visited a medium. Declared to be a medium. Given career tips. Denial at first, she later became mentor. Initially worked with missing persons. Later read for friends. Now a professional medium.

2 Encouraged by her palmist neighbor. Passionately read about the super- natural. Saw that palmistry was a tool that one could use intuitively. Began to do informal readings for her parents’ friends during high school. Now a professional medium.

3 Read books about the paranormal in high school. Not much available to read. Later she found books on psychic abilities, spirits, dreams, and astral projection. Later still, other books included spirits after death. Now a professional medium.

4 Two weeks after her encounter with a young murder victim, she began to have spirits “drop-in,” desperately seeking her assistance to communicate. A psychic told her she had to set hours for contact. Took metaphysical courses to develop her style. Began readings for her friends. Now a professional medium.

5 Quit her sales career to become a professional speaker. Provided readings in her home. Became assistant minister at Unity. Produced two small books, from the words of her spirit guide. Helped produce a network television special on angels. Now a professional medium.

6 Developmental experiences included psychometry, with antiques. Saw her favorite uncle (continued) after his death. Saw her high school friend make an appearance at her own funeral. Teen fascination for witchcraft, but discouraged by a professional psychic. Joined the Fundamentalist Christian religion. Now a professional medium.

Another participant cited family support as an influential factor in fostering her

further development. Although her father traveled with the military during her childhood,

P6 was able to discuss life after death and the existence of God through correspondence

when he was deployed and while they were on fishing trip outings when he was home. In

her early teens, while visiting an antique shop with her father, she discovered her

psychometric abilities when she touched an item of clothing on display and “saw” the

deceased former owner of the dress.

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Although there was a shortage of relevant material published at the time, other

participants credited available literature as providing a realistic understanding of their

experiences and fostered a further development of their skills. In her late high school

years, P3 began reading books on paranormal topics. Although her sources were limited,

she retained her curiosity and was later able to locate additional supportive literature on

psychic abilities, spirits, dreams, astral projection, and ADC.

Additional Item and Spirit Guides

Although not listed as a formal interview question, four of the six participants

indicated that they had some sort of spirit guide contact that served to assist in their

coping with the experience or further professional development (see Table 10). At age 3

or 4, P6 identified her spirit guide as playing a major role in her initial experience. Living

in the midst of a heavily wooded area, she credits the brief appearance of a beautiful,

long-haired blond woman who escorted her safely through the woods to the home of a

neighbor to secure help for her mother who had just fallen and was in need of medical

assistance. She openly shared her experience with parents and acquaintances over the

years and although no logical explanation could ever be given, she was never criticized

for her description of the occurrence. As a child, P6 thought of the spirit as a “secret

friend,” however, as she got older she realized she was a spirit guide, capable of

providing her counsel and comfort in troubled times.

Within a year of her initial experience at a psychic development class, described

by her instructor as “a spirit entering her body,” P5 was visited by a spirit guide.

Appearing to her on a regular basis for the next six months, he persuaded her to record

and transcribe his channeled messages that she later turned into a book. In conducting

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this transaction, he also taught her how to reduce her overload of psychic information

through the control of spirit access.

In her mid-teens, P1 went through a period of deep depression while at home and

extreme anxiety while at school. As a nurse, her mother thought it best for her to have a

psychiatric examination. On the evening prior to her appointment, she was lying in bed,

when she sensed that someone had broken into the house with the intent of harming her.

Frightened, she closed her eyes and heard someone say, “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.

I’m here to help you.” At that moment, she claimed she realized that it was a spirit guide

or angel. She was not sure what to call it, but was made aware that it had been with her

all her lifetime.

Although she also claimed to have had visitations throughout her entire

childhood, P2 also had a similar acknowledgement in her mid-teens. Lying in bed at

night, she would frequently sense multiple “presences.” Although she was very nervous

about the incidents at the time, she eventually came to realize that they meant no harm

and were merely “watching over her” for her own protection.

Table 10

Spirit Guide Involvement

Participant Spirit Guide Involvement

1 Visited prior to psychologist visit. Scared to point of an out-of-body experiences.

Told to relax. It was only there to help. Spirit guide or angel?

2 Discovered her first spirit guide at 15, when reading a friend’s palm. Shown the ability to read energy direct from the person.

3 No spirit guides indicated in interview.

4 Although the spirit of the murdered girl had repeated visits, a formal spirit guide was not indicated.

5 Her spirit guide taught her the most about mediumship.

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How to receive and filter information. Given messages to record.

6 Her spirit guide showed her through the woods near her home to a safe place to assist her mother when young.

Summation of Results

A summation of the results in this study tends to indicate evidence for the STE in

claimant mediums as being a gradual process, with the initial experience containing a

single or multiple spiritual entities that may or may not be considered as guides. The

encounter was considered either fearfully traumatic or merely a variation of the

individual’s concept of reality, depending on the age of the individual at the time of the

initial experience.

The individual’s level of comfort in the acceptance of this paradigm shift was

greatly dependent upon the social support system of the individual and their existing

religious or spiritual orientation. An open-minded, loving support system of peers and

older family members, rather than a highly rigid and restrictive environment, was the

more beneficial set of circumstances for the healthy psychological accommodation of the

developmental process. Little or no access to an open discussion of the experience easily

led to feelings of conflict and self-doubt that fostered the questioning of the individual’s

mental health. The implementation of the newly imposed psycho-spiritual experience was

also often directly influenced by the previous religious orientation of the individual and

its associated degree of liberal or conservative control imposed by the philosophy of the

religious doctrine. Personal spirituality adjustment, however, appeared to be more

flexible in its accommodation.

The pursuit of a career in mediumship appeared dependent upon two key factors.

One influential component was the ease of adjustment to the initial contact experience.

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Here, one would perceive some sort of message from a spirit presence, whether a random

former occupant of the individual’s home, a deceased individual seeking assistance in the

resolution of their murder, or a guardian figure who came to assist in the seeking of help

for a disabled mother. The other influential factor included the availability of a positive

fostering environment. This was experienced in the support of a positive loving family,

the acceptance of peers, or the encouragement of some sort of spirit entity.

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Chapter 5: Discussion

The designated purpose of this study was to examine the initial STE of the

developing claimant medium. The transformative experience can be thought of as

anomalistic, is often considered startling in nature, and is sometimes described as an

alleged psychic opening that initiates a reported paradigm shift in the individual’s

conscious awareness. The experience may even create a concern the individual could be

losing touch with reality. While the original intent of this dissertation was to focus on the

individual who was experiencing a psychic opening, the results of this inquiry revealed

there was an equally skilled group of claimant mediums that may have become aware of

their purported abilities in a less troubling manner.

The reported level of stress experienced by the participant appears dependent

upon two primary factors. One is the age of the individual at the time of the experience.

The other is the amount of social support available to the individual, hence their level of

comfort in sharing the experience. Some participants indicated the presence of what they

perceived to be a “spirit guide.” Of these participants, some felt as though this spirit

guide(s) has remained with them for continued assistance throughout their lifetime,

following the initial experience.

The continued assimilation of psychic experiences that contribute to one’s further

spiritual development is dependent upon the level of comfort one has become accustomed

to when encountering these experiences. Hence, career development in mediumship is

strongly dependent upon a competent level of self-esteem, which has been fostered by a

nurturing environment and a continued interest in the perfection of one’s demonstrated

psychic abilities.

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The Spectrum of Spiritually Transformative Experiences

A review of the results from this study tends to indicate that there is a wider range

of parameters available for consideration than I had originally anticipated within the

Spectrum of Spiritual Transformation. Considering that most of my participants were

adults who recalled their initial STE as being in childhood between the ages of 3 and 11,

a recall of their succeeding follow-up developmental experiences could be considered as

a consensus of their long-term spiritual transformation (Kason, 2008). While the Grofs

have justifiably brought our focus of attention to the use of Transpersonal Counseling in

the facilitation of the STE (S. Grof, 1983, 1985; S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989a, 1989b), there

are a variety of other less traumatic transformative experiences. In reference to immediate

and long-term impacts of the experience, Kason (2008) noted:

The immediate emotional and psychological impact of STEs varies tremendously from individual to individual, depending on such factors as personality, the amount of stress in the person’s life, and whether they are in a supportive environment in which their STEs are treated as valued and valuable. Most people undergoing long-term spiritual transformation also notice psychological symptoms. It seems as if the transformation process itself propels them at some point into intense self-reflection (emotional recovery work) or depth psychotherapy (inner healing work). The personality is being purified, morally developed, healed, and polished. (p. 200)

Kason (2008) added, “Some of the psychological reactions to STEs are positive and

demonstrate inner growth or healing. . . . Others are challenging or distressing and

indicate that more inner work needs to be done” (p. 201).

Consequently, I have further speculated that this alternate portion of the study

population may have had a more supportive social and spiritual environment, both during

and prior to the transformative experience. This possibility, leads me to the consideration

of social support.

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The Supportive Environment

Four of the six participants in this study reported having their initial

transformative experience between the ages of 3 and 11. The typical experience was

described as including an encounter with one or more spiritual entities that were

perceived as being either frightening or helpful. These reports are in compliance with and

have a similar ambience to the ADC stories told to Jeska (2012), where she reported

stories of monsters in the child’s bedroom prior to sleep, perceived attempts at physical

contact (e.g., hugs), and the perceived presence of deceased relatives.

Two of the participants in my study who considered the experience to be

frightening received little to no parental support in coping with the spiritual beings. Both

experiences were considered as being an unwelcome intrusion and each later assumed

that they were mentally disturbed. Still later both also received conventional

psychological diagnoses, one suffering from depression at home and anxiety at school at

the age of 15, the other being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder after hearing

voices at the age of 21. Fortunately, all the mothers in Jeska’s (2012) study were

receptive to their child’s ADC experience, openly discussing it with them in full detail,

acknowledging it as real, and recognizing their own need to acquire greater skills in

working with the ADC experience. Hence, it would appear that a close personal rapport

and supportive parental interaction seems to provide a more positive atmosphere of

acceptance and adjustment to the experience.

While collecting STE research material for her book Farther Shores, Kason

(2008) realized the need to know that one is not alone when transformative experiences

occur. “We need to know that these experiences are normal,” she claimed, “and while in

some ways uniquely our own, are also universal” (p. 21).

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With or without supportive parental involvement, however, there still appears to

be a reluctance to openly discuss the experiences outside the immediate family. In spite

of the fear to share the experiences with their mother, however, the two participants

lacking in support (described above) eventually found the need and means to confide in a

trusting friend. P1 (see Appendix C) found this opportunity at an overnight sleepover

with a classmate in third grade. Experiencing what she thought was an older woman who

had drowned in the bathtub of her friend’s home, she cautiously shared the experience

with her friend, saying “I know this sounds weird or whatever, but when I was in your

bathroom in the middle of the night, I saw this ghost woman in your bathtub. Drowned.”

She was grateful to hear her friend reply, “Oh, the lady that lived here before did drown

in the bathtub.” Although she was relieved for the validation of her experience, she

vowed never to stay overnight at the house again. Later, as a young adult in her mid-20s,

her sensitivities were confirmed and encouraged by an elderly medium she had contacted

to communicate with her recently deceased father, brother, or grandmother. P3 (see

Appendix C), after an extensive and enlightening literary search for support information

on paranormal phenomena from both her high school and public libraries, was befriended

by a Catholic classmate who offered the suggestion that perhaps she was being visited by

angels that were merely trying to get her attention.

P4 (see Appendix C), who first recognized her STE at the age of 35, was initially

reluctant to assist the spirit of a deceased murder victim by calling the police to offer

help. Having been in law enforcement herself, she initially thought of herself as a skeptic.

Perceived experiences of spirit visitation were considered “fantasy.” Police validation of

her experiences concerning the events of the spirit’s death, however, encouraged her

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confidence to provide further information in spite of an initial hesitation to go “on

record” to a public agency.

Parents in Jeska’s (2012) study were also reluctant to endorse public exposure,

preferring that their children refrain from discussing their ADCs at school in spite of the

desire to have a wider public acceptance of ADCs. Kason (2008) adds further clarity to

understanding the hesitant mindset of individuals who have had or know someone who

has had an STE by describing typical clientele in her clinical practice. She observed that

individuals who have had a psychic awakening and continue to have psychic experiences

tend to adjust to their new abilities in stages:

First, they are often puzzled, confused, or frightened. They question the nature of what they have experienced; they wonder where the experiences have come from and why. At this stage, experiencers are usually very reluctant to tell others their experiences, because they believe people will think they are crazy. However, as the psychic experiences keep occurring, most experiencers try to talk to friends or family about them. In some instances, they are rebuffed or ridiculed and find it extremely difficult to speak about their experiences again. In other cases they discover people who are eager to talk about psychic phenomena. (pp. 109-110)

At the age of 8, P2 established a friendship with an elderly palmist across the

street who listened to her experiences and taught her how to be more sensitive, thus

enhancing her intuitive skills. Later, in high school, she was able to establish a peer

support group of friends, but was still cautious about a wide-based sharing of her

experiences. At the age of 29, P5 (see Appendix C) was in a psychic development class at

the time of her initial STE. Consequently, she was already in a semi-public environment

at the time of the occurrence and worked with the class instructor, welcoming it as a

learning experience.

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Spirit Guides

Although I had not initially included an interview question associated with the

topic of “spirit guides,” most of the study participants reported what they perceived as

helpful beings that assisted with or performed a major role in the STE. P6 (see Appendix

C) for example, who alone at her home with her mother at the age of 3, realized the

immediate need for adult assistance when her mother collapsed to the floor in pain from a

blood clot in her leg. Although she had been consistently told to never go alone into the

heavily-wooded area that surrounded her home, she described her experience with a

beautiful long-haired blonde woman who suddenly appeared to escort her safely through

the woods to a neighbor’s home where she was able to secure the medical help her

mother needed. P6 recalled that she was never afraid of the woman, always completely

confident that she would safely assist her in what needed to be done in order to efficiently

resolve the situation. Periodically, throughout the rest of her life as events proved

challenging, she has continued to feel the presence of the “woman in the woods” as a

very protective friend and began to recognize her as her spirit guide.

While experiencing her periods of deep depression and extreme anxiety during

high school, P1 recalled a “spiritual visitation” on the evening prior to a psychiatric

evaluation that had been arranged by her mother. Lying alone in bed, she was under the

impression that someone had broken into the house. Frightened, she closed her eyes and

heard someone say that she should not be afraid. They were only there to help. She was

not sure what to call the visitor, but later referred to it as a spirit guide or angel. P2

reported a similar experience, recalling that she used to have multiple visitations

throughout her childhood. Lying in bed at night she would sense several presences that

she eventually realized were there for her protection.

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Within a year after the initially recognized STE at her psychic development class,

P5 was visited by what she referred to as a spirit guide who persuaded her to transcribe

his channeled messages that she later published as a book. And although P4 may not have

considered the discarnate murder victim who appeared to her as a spirit guide, she was

persuaded to assist in the resolution of her murder.

Although my literary search of academic sources failed to locate any studies of

spirit guides, there have been a number of references to them in the popular press. For

example, in Spirited: Connect to the Guides All Around You, Rosen and Rose (2010),

described spirit guides as the spirits who are aware of our past, present, and future and

always have our best interests in mind. “They point us in the right direction, comfort us in

times of need, and warn us off from danger” (p. 151). We may have many spirit guides

over the course of our lives, they claim, who appear as needed, but guardian angels are

with us for life. Angels, they said, are beings of light and although they may also be

petitioned for assistance in times of need, are usually more associated with one’s

emotional and spiritual needs when placed in life-threatening situations.

Implications

The results of this study tend to establish a better understanding for the emergence

process of spiritual transformation. Bragdon (2013) defines a spiritual emergency as a

personal crisis that may have symptoms that appear similar to serious mental illnesses,

such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizo-affective disorder. Spiritual

emergence, she added, represents a process where the individual grows into their spirit

self with ease and grace, without a crisis. Consequently, people who may have

experienced a spiritual emergency may have also run the risk of being misdiagnosed and

given inappropriate psychoactive drugs that tend to impede the progress of the

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transformative process. In the consideration of world cultures, where mediums are

considered as valuable members of society rather than “crazy for talking to spirits,” one

may therefore tend to argue that diagnosis is a culture-specific evaluation.

Bragdon (2013) continued, stating that mental care health workers have been in

need of applying new models of treatment that are capable of discerning the process of

spiritual emergence. Fortunately, however, the culture of our society has changed a great

deal since before the early 1980s, when homosexuality was considered a sign of mental

illness, the dilemma of a re-evaluation of one’s religion was considered facilitated by an

anti-psychotic drug, and the stages of consciousness development were not as easily

recognized by traditional members of Western society as by those practicing the Eastern

philosophies. At its inception, the Spiritual Emergency Network (n.d.) was considered as

a needed referral service that provided a safety net of individual therapists who knew a

transpersonal approach to the problem, contrary to the mainstream train of thought.

In more recent years there has been an increased interest in spiritual growth, as

witnessed by the popularity of associated self-help books and the works of influential

authors, such as Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, and Ken Wilber (Bragdon, 2013). This

liberated mindset has also lead to a more empathetic treatment of those experiencing a

spiritual emergency that can diminish a reliance on the drug therapies exercised by the

traditional medical model.

It is my impression that the results of this dissertation are in compliance with

those of Jeska (2012), Roxburgh and Roe (2013, 2014), and others who have advocated a

more empathetic, belief-oriented approach to dealing with the spiritual transformative

process, at whatever age it may occur. A repressed fear-based reaction by one having a

STE may be just as damaging as a negative response to the incident by a parent or

96

questioning member of society in ignorance of the psychic opening phenomena and could

easily be considered as detrimental to the spiritual development of the individual.

Limitations and Delimitations

Noted limitations in this inquiry included the small sample size of the study.

However, even though the sample size was small, I did notice a cross-section of the

parametric definitions attributed to Kason’s (2008) spectrum of STEs. Participants

revealed a characteristic range of experiences from the mildly troubling to the more

stressful examples of the experience, with each one demonstrating a reflection of the

person’s personality, stress level, and supportive environment. A larger sample may

enhance the existing spectrum. However, the results are still reliant upon the accuracy of

the participant’s memory of the experience. In retrospect, I can see this as an inherent

limitation to the interview process. Even though the traditional open-ended interview

questions used in this study were designed to obtain a detailed biographical orientation to

the transformative experience of the participant, one is still limited by the ability to verify

the accuracy of the material presented.

Known delimitations to the experimenter at the time of the study have already

been mentioned in the form of my naïve bias towards the more troubling, psychic

opening example of the spiritual emergency experience. As previously indicated, an

expectation for results more representative of this experience type was an erroneous

presumption.

Internal and External Validity

In retrospect, my internal validity concerns now appear centered around the

experient distribution of Kason’s (2008) Spectrum of STEs. While each individual

engaged in a spiritual transformation will experience their own set of challenges, not

97

every one of them will have a spiritual emergency or psychotic episode. I am certainly

comforted in my acknowledgement of this. However, I still have concerns about the

mildly effected individual that may not be familiar with the purported psychic abilities

they might experience. Since it may be disruptive or even frightening to the individual,

there is still a reluctance to discuss the experience with others. However, this should

become less stressful if our society becomes more spiritually tolerant of these

transformative experiences.

In terms of external validity, the generalization of the results in this study appear

to be culturally dependent. As noted in the literature review of this dissertation, some

world cultures appear more spiritually acceptant than others. The cultures of Puerto Rico

(Krippner, 1994) and Brazil (Bragdon, 2012) for example, that accept mediums as

medical and mental health team members in their psychiatric hospitals, as well as the

psycho-spiritual emergence and development counseling services of the IGPP (2007) in

Germany appear more spiritually advanced than other societies around the world. Hence

the results of this study should not be expected to be capable of a universal application.

Implications for Future Research

The results of this study have inspired me to consider the possibility of two

additional research efforts. One of them would focus on a more longitudinal effort to

explore the early ADC experiences of children between the ages of 4 and 12, with a

follow-up study conducted later in their teen years and another during their young

adulthood. Although my participants were all adults, the accountability of their early

childhood experience is heavily dependent upon the quality of their memory. From the

various reports of increased stress and emotional concerns provided in the current study,

a teen years study would appear to provide an initial comparative look at one’s increased

98

level of routine lifetime stresses and concerns in association with the quality of spiritual

development. The young adult study would be designed to focus on the selected choice of

career for the continuing participant. For example, one might ask how many of the

participants in the initial study would go on to pursue a career as a medium?

The second study would focus on spirit guides. Just what are they and how do

they influence our lives? Are they overwhelming or considered as a valuable resource in

resolving the various decisions we contemplate throughout our lives. What is the

connection between visitation by spirit guides and the subsequent contact of the claimant

medium with deceased persons? All of these suggestions would necessitate a

combination of rigorous investigation with an open-minded perspective concerning

phenomena that run counter to mainstream assumptions in Western society.

99

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Appendix A: Interview Questions

1. What was your initial mediumship experience?

2. What was your age at the time of the experience?

3. Describe the experience.

4. How did your experience vary from conventional reality?

5. What was your reaction to the experience?

6. Did you think you were having a mental disturbance?

7. Did you seek out others with whom you could share the experience?

8. How comfortable were you in talking to others about the experience?

9. What was your understanding of the experience?

10. Did you have a support group or a supportive atmosphere when discussing the experience with others?

11. Was your biographical background supportive or restrictive concerning non conventional experiences? (for example, your religious association)

12. How did you cope with the experience?

13. How did you further develop these abilities?

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Appendix B: Consent Form

INFORMED CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the spiritually transformative experience associated with a “psychic opening” that is encountered by the novice claimant medium. The interviews generated by the study will supplement existing documented written records with your personal history of this experience. This project is being conducted by William G. Everist, who is a graduate student of Saybrook University, as part of the dissertation requirement

Principal Researcher:

William G. Everist 7378 East 31st Street Tucson, Arizona 86710 (520) 298-4742 / weverist@hotmail.com

Procedures:

[1] This study involves the completion of a telephone interview designed to establish a biographical account of the participant’s first psychic experience, commonly referred to as a “psychic opening.” The interview questionnaire consists of twelve open-ended questions concerning the initial experience and one concluding question concerning the participant’s subsequent development of their psychic abilities.

[2] Completion of these procedures will require approximately one hour of participation. [3] The interview procedure involves a casual interactive phone conversation at the

participant’s convenience where they will feel at ease in discussing the appropriate materials, free from interruption. The interview will be conducted by the principal researcher, William G. Everist and will be audio recorded for later content review and analysis.

Possible Risks and Safeguards: This study is designed to minimize as much as possible any potential physical, psychological, and social risks to you and the potential risks associated with this study are anticipated to be no greater than any other experience which would occur in everyday life. Although very unlikely, there are always risks in research, which you are entitled to know of in advance of giving your consent, as well as the safeguards to be taken by those who conduct the project to minimize the risks.

I understand that: [1] Although my identity shall be known to the Principal Researcher, all identifying

information shall be removed at the time of transcription of the audio recording. [2] My responses to the questions will be pooled with others and all identifiers, such as

names, addresses, employers, and related information that might be used to identify me, will be given a pseudonym.

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[3] This informed consent form will be kept separate from the data I provide, in a locked file for five years, known only to the Principal Researcher, after which it will be destroyed.

[4] The data collected in their raw and transcribed forms are to be kept anonymous, stored in a locked container accessible only to the Principal Researcher for five years, after which it shall be destroyed.

[5] Transcribed, anonymous data in the form of computer files will be kept indefinitely for future research.

[6] All the information I give will be kept confidential to the extent required by law. The information obtained from me will be examined in terms of group findings, and will be reported anonymously.

[7] There is to be no individual feedback regarding interpretations of my responses. Only general findings will be presented in a Summary Report of which I am entitled a copy, and my individual responses are to remain anonymous.

[8] None of the personal information I provide associated with my identity will be released to any other party without my explicit written permission.

[9] If quotes of my responses are used in the research report for the dissertation, as well as any and all future publications of these quotations, my identity shall remain anonymous, and at most make use of a fictitious name.

[10] I have the right to refuse to answer any question asked of me. [11] I have the right to refuse at any time to engage in any procedure requested of me. [12] I have the right to withdraw from participation at any time for any reason without

stating my reason. [13] I have the right to participate without prejudice on the part of the Principal Researcher

and other persons assisting the Principal Researcher. [14] It is possible that the procedures may bring to my mind thoughts of an emotional nature

that may upset me. In the unlikely event that I should experience emotional distress from my participation, the Principal Researcher shall be available to me. They shall make every effort to minimize such an occurrence. However, should an upset occur and become sufficiently serious to warrant professional attention, as a condition of my participation in this study, I understand that a licensed mental health professional will be made available to me. If I do not have such a person, the Principal Researcher will refer me and reasonable costs up to the first two visits will be paid by the Principal Researcher.

[15] By my consent, I understand I am required to notify the Principal Researcher at the time of any serious emotional upset that may cause me to seek therapy and compensation for this upset.

[16] I will receive a copy of this signed consent form for my records. Regarding any concern and serious upset, you may contact the Principal Researcher at: (520) 298-4742. You may also contact the Research Supervisor of the project, Stanley Krippner at skrippner@saybrook.edu. Should you have any concerns regarding the conduct and procedures of this research project that are not addressed to your satisfaction by the Principal Researcher and his Research Supervisor, you may report and discuss them with Dr. M. Willson Williams (SIRB@Saybrook.edu), the Director of the Saybrook Institutional Review Board.

Possible Benefits: I understand that my participation in this study may have possible benefits.

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[1] I may obtain a greater personal awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the spiritually transformative experience.

[2] Through future communications and possible applications of the findings of the research, indirectly my participation may bring future benefits to others who have had the same initial psychic opening.

[3] My participation may enable the Principal Researcher and others working in the topic area to contribute to knowledge and theory of the phenomenon to be studied.

Summary Report:

Upon conclusion of this study, a summary report of the general findings will become available. If you would like a copy of the report, please check the box below and provide the address to which you would like it sent (your email or postal address):

� I would like to receive a copy of the Summary Report

Postal or Email Address:

Consent of Principal Researcher

I have explained the above procedures and conditions of this study, provided an opportunity for the research participant to ask questions, and have attempted to provide satisfactory answers to all questions that have been asked in the course of this explanation. Principal Researcher Signature Date Principal Researcher Name

Consent of the Participant

If you have any questions of the Principal Researcher at this point, please take this opportunity to have them answered before granting your consent. If you are ready to provide your consent, read the statement below, then sign, and print your name and date on the line below.

I have read the above information, have had an opportunity to ask questions about any and all aspects of this study, and give my voluntary consent to participate.

Participant Signature Date Participant Name

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Appendix C: Participants’ Textual Descriptions

PARTICIPANT 1

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

Around the age of four, Participant #1 (P1) experienced two spirits that she described as “scary” and “anything but happy.” With her room as the only downstairs bedroom and the rest of the family sleeping upstairs, she was sick with a high temperature at the time. “I kept feeling like things were in the room,” she said. “People were staring at me and then I felt this presence outside the window.” Since her bed was right under the window, she remembers getting on her knees, opening the curtains, and looking out the window to see a female being, whom she claimed was trying to scare her. She would be so afraid some times that she would scream so loud that nothing would come out of her mouth. Because she never slept well in that room since, she was allowed to move upstairs to share her younger brother’s room. However, she never really liked living in the house. EARLIER REPORTS

Although she doesn’t remember the experience, her mother and aunt (her mother’s sister) later informed her that when she was two-years old, they had seen her playing in her room and having real conversations, not pretend play conversations with the Teddy Bear or a doll at a tea party, but actual long conversations with somebody with whom she had maintained eye contact. SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES

Years later, she spent a lot of time with her grandmother (who was her father’s mother, and like a second mom to her). She lived in a two-story brick home with several upstairs bedrooms, one of which contained the spirit of an old woman. She could never play in that room with the door closed. “I just felt itchy and couldn’t breathe,” she claimed, “and if they ever left me in there, I would immediately leave and go downstairs and be with grandma.” At night, she was unable to go to sleep in that house unless her grandmother was next to her rubbing her back. “I was petrified,” she claimed, “so it was more fear-based, than happy angels. It took years for me to get a hold of it and not be afraid.” Much later, she was able to overcome the fear by connecting with, as she called it, “the light, God-like connection” that enabled her to push it away. This adjustment was well-timed because of her continual encounter with “dead people” while visiting the homes of her playmate friends. Her encounters were more frequent in older homes. One incident in particular, while in 3rd grade, occurred in the home of a close friend that was undergoing renovation. During a sleepover one night, she went into the bathroom and saw an older woman underwater dead in the bathtub. She quickly ran back to the bedroom where she was staying with her friend.

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The next day, she told her friend, “I know this sounds weird or whatever, but when I was in your bathroom in the middle of the night, I saw this ghost woman in your bathtub. Drowned.” Her friend replied, “Oh, the lady that lived here before drown in the bathtub.” She was grateful to hear the confirmation, but never stayed at the house again. LACK OF PARENTAL SUPPORT Years following her four-year old experience, her mother confessed that her old bedroom “was haunted,” as she put it, and thought that perhaps she had also seen “the being.” Her mother was stressed, hardworking, hysterical, and pregnant at the time of the experience, offering no comfort from the incidents. Usually occurring around two or three in the morning, she was unable to deal with a four-year old who was “seeing things” in the house. “She was mad at me,” said participant one. “She’d pull my hair and tell me nothing’s there.” She was making her mother angry, so rather than to continue on “bothering her mother” she’d hide under the covers and scream into her pillow. “It was a horrible year.” Her parents thought she was crazy. However, P1 suspected that her mother was very psychic. “She was pretty intuitive. She could pick up on things as much as I could.” Her aunt was also extremely intuitive. “She had the same abilities I did, but never used them.” And yet, her mother would always try to discourage her from becoming a medium because she considered it to be the work of the devil. However, she later switched her position, saying, “okay, if you’re going to do it…because you are gifted and you see things, you hear things … just don’t charge money for it. It’s a gift from God.” DEVELOPMENT

By the age of 10 or 11, she was well aware that she could see and sense people who had died and was beginning to realize that she could sense when they were going to die. “There was just something about them.” She knew her grandfather was going to die when he was scheduled for a day’s inpatient surgery. Her family thought she was hysterical when she pleaded, “I’m never going to see you again,” in spite of his calm assurance that it was “no big deal” and that he’d be home again that night. It was just a little surgery. Yet, she protested, “No, he’s gonna die.” And totally unexpected, he did.

Medical Support, Spiritual Support, and the Aha Experience

Around the age of 15, she went through what she thought was a period of deep depression, unable to move. She would just lie on a couch and continually cry. When she went to school she would feel extremely anxious, incapable of speech. Her parents didn’t know what to do. However, since her mother was a nurse, it was thought that participant

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one should be taken to a psychiatrist. He prescribed anti-anxiety medication and referred her to a clinical psychologist that used hypnotherapy in his practice. During her state of depression, one night prior to her designated appointment with the psychologist, she had a spiritual visitation. Initially under the impression that someone had broken into her home and had come to her bedside to harm her, she was so terrified that she had an out-of-body experience. In the [out-of-body experience] state, while she was able to relax and lose her fear, she heard the being say, “Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help you.” At that point she didn’t know what to call it, but began to realize that it was either a spirit guide or angel that claimed to have been with her for her entire life. Two weeks later she visited the psychologist for a hypnosis session and had her psychic abilities confirmed. She was under hypnosis for about 20 to 30 minutes and had no recall of how the time was spent. “Okay, I was out,” she said. “I don’t know where I went.” Upon being awakened from her hypnotic state, the therapist said, “all I can tell you is that you are definitely very psychic.” The statement came as a bit of a surprise. She had never been told that before, but it helped to confirm that she was not mentally disturbed. “It was very validating,” she said, “when a professional who’d never seen me before would say such a thing.”

Serious Intent

Her desire to become more intuitive paired with stronger visitations when she was 18. Her brother and father had recently drowned in a boating accident and in spite of an intensive effort, their bodies remained missing for a year and a half later. She was close to them both and kept trying to psychically connect with them the entire time period. Having had a speech problem, she and her brother had been able to communicate telepathically their entire lives. “He could be in another state and I could feel his energy in the same room. We were that close.” Two weeks prior to the accident, prior to her return to college, she was saying goodbye to her dad and she had the impulse to kiss him on the cheek. He gave her a hug, then looked at her and said, “Well, we’ll be in touch.” She then walked to her car and as she was driving away she looked back and noticed he had a white glow around him. That was the last time she saw him. Fifteen minutes before, she went to say goodbye to her brother, but he had refused to say goodbye to her. Since no one else had been able to find them and she loved them so much, she decided that she was going to reach them on an intuitive level. She would merely close her eyes and think about them and then lie back and just listen to them. She began having connections and dreams about them. She believes that is was the incentive that inspired her to be a medium. For the most part, P1 claimed to be self-taught, exclusively coping with both her childhood experiences and the subsequent development of her psychic skills. As a practicing Occupational Therapist and Musician in her mid-20’s, prior to her official

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declaration to become a medium, she went to see a medium suggested by her roommate. She was a woman in her 80’s. P1 went to see her for a reading to connect with her father and brother. Halfway through the reading, the medium stopped abruptly and told her, “I’m going to give you information to help you to enhance your ability to be a medium. Cause you are a medium.”

P1 clarified that she was a therapist and although she was aware of her abilities, did not intend to use them for professional purposes. “Yes, you are,” the woman countered, “and I’m going to give you some tips and help you.” P1 listened, still in denial, but went back for another reading nine months later to connect with her grandmother. Again, the woman responded, “No, I’m here to give you more tips on how to be a medium. You will want this information someday.” And she proceeded to give her detailed information on protection strategies against negative spirit, as well as relaxation techniques and ways to hear, feel and trust in what she was receiving, rather than giving in to doubt. She became her mentor. With confidence, she was told, “Someday you are going to be doing this. You’re going to be finding missing persons and giving comfort to the grieving.” Encouraged, she decided to work with missing persons. In her first attempt, she sat calmly in a meditative state and began writing. As she continued writing, she began to see the entire tragic event. A young 14 year-old girl was laying on a bridge near a field of cows, with a church nearby. Curious, she decided to tell the police what she had seen. The next morning, her impressions were confirmed. The body was found in the exact place she had told them. This confirmed her abilities and reassured her career intent to assist people. A man she was dating introduced her to a friend who was open to having P1 do a reading for her. This was her first reading for anyone other than a personal friend or family member. As she sat with the woman, a man with something around his neck began to appear around her and introduced himself. As P1 described this to the woman, she began to cry. What she had just heard was personal information, unknown by anyone else. P1 listened as the woman told her of her uncle who had hung himself and suddenly realized that this was exclusive information that had never been shared with anyone, with the exception perhaps of close family members. At the age of 30, this was the experience that convinced her to begin working formally with her gifts.

Helping Others

Over the past couple of years, some of her clientele have asked her assistance in helping them develop their intuition. She has consistently assured them that she is available as a mentor and offers her evaluation and guidance of their abilities.

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PARTICIPANT 2

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

At the age of six, Participant #2 (P2) began to have the feeling of being watched. Although she did not have a clear vision of the beings, she could see outlines and hear people in her room. She was able to recognize that they were not like a regular human person, however, she did know that they were there. She could feel them and hear them, although she was not consciously aware of what they were saying. Although not every evening, when she did experience “the watchers,” she would go to bed for the evening and sense them, prior to going to sleep. “They would visit me. They would watch me. But I didn’t feel as they meant me any harm.” Although she didn’t recognize them as “guides,” she did feel as though they were there to assist and watch over her. Realizing that a sense of imagination at that age could easily allow the situation to get out of hand and make her scared, she was able to keep herself calm, in spite of being “freaked out.” She was concerned that her parents had not come to her assistance and check to see who was in her room. She was experiencing the events on two levels of awareness. “My intuitive self may have been operating on a different level,” she said, “knowing that I wasn’t going to be harmed. But with my ego self, there was a level of nervousness and anxiety.” Being young at the time of the experience, she thought that it was completely normal, and hence, “her reality.” However, if this was her reality, she thought, why wasn’t someone coming in to check on her? “Is there anybody here bothering you? What can I do?” However, her parents never interfered or assisted in that way. They didn’t have that experience. “I guess my reality was different.” She came to the belief that the reality she was experiencing was completely different than her parents. She had accepted the anxious, worrisome feelings, but also realized that nothing was going to happen. At the time, she had no logical concept of what was happening. As she said, “Things just sort of happened. It was just what it was.” A more comprehensive understanding of what was happening came later. RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND

P2 considers herself fortunate enough to have had a liberal religious upbringing. Her parents never forced any religious orientations on her. From an early age, she was permitted to “find God” and “whatever he meant,” entirely on her own, without any imposed Biblical or scriptural doctrines. To this day, it is her belief that this open approach has allowed her to be on her current path in a less hindered manner, free from the potential conflict of a dogmatic religious background. “My parents never encouraged or discouraged me in terms of religion,” she claimed. “‘Just do whatever you like to do,’ they’d say. So I became metaphysical.”

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By comparison, her brother is an agnostic and her sister is extremely religious, having “found God” when she was 18 and began ministering all over the world. EARLY DEVELOPMENT

Two years after her initial experience, at the age of eight, she began to visit her neighbor across the street. P2 described her neighbor as “a lovely lady who read palms.” She introduced her to palmistry, explaining the lines in her hand and how one could see, feel, and read things in people just by looking at their hand. This new awareness proved to be a life changing experience that she claims, began her current career path. Even though mediumship wasn’t involved in palm reading, she became aware of her intuitive side and established a sense of “knowing.” She had recognized a sense of awareness she possessed and always seemed to be more “in tune” with things, than others around her. “My switch was ‘on’,” she said, and at the age of eight she had been propelled into a different arena. She began to passionately read anything she could find on the supernatural. However, at around the age of 13, she began to realize that the lines of palmistry, traditionally interpreted as providing an imprinted biography of the individual’s fate, patience, knowledge, health, love life, and longevity were only superficial. In reality, all she had to do was hold the hand of a person to experience their energy and have an intuitive understanding of the individual. More exactly, she claimed, “you don’t even have to hold their hand. You can just sit in their presence and begin to see things off of them. I called it an overlay. Palmistry was just a catalyst. It grew to other things.”

Mental Impairment and Genetic History

In spite of the discomfort she experienced in some of her earlier experiences, she never felt as though she was losing her mind or having a mental issue. Fortunately she knew enough about her family to know that there had never been a history of mental disorder. She did learn, however, that many of her family members (on both sides of the family) were intuitive or had mediumistic abilities. In her late teens and early 20s, P2 learned that her father’s mother, grandmother, sister, and twin aunts were mediums. Her mother’s mother had premonitions concerning the pending death of family members, often receiving confirmation phone calls within a few days of the impressions. Although several people in her family had similar experiences, it wasn’t commonly discussed and one would really have to probe for support information. Her fraternal twin sister shared her abilities. However, at the age of 20, she was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease, which is described as being one of the most common causes of dizziness originating in the middle ear. Characteristic episodic symptoms include vertigo, hearing loss, and a ringing in the ears (retrieved from http://www.entnet.org/HealthInformation/menieresDisease.cfm). Since she had no health

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insurance, she was forced to get assistance from the state. When filling out her paperwork, they were detailed in asking about her experiences. “What do you have? What have you been through? What are the things that have happened to you?” and “Do you see things or hear voices?” Since her sister was deeply religious, she saw her psychic experiences as “spiritual warfare between Satan and God.” She saw her psychic gifts as a curse and ended up being diagnosed with a schizo-effective disorder. P2 is absolutely convinced that all her sister’s religious indoctrination is responsible for the resultant conflict. PARENTAL SUPPORT

P2 described her parents as being open to her experiences. She remembers meditating around the age of 12 or 14 with an ease of out-of –body experiences. Her mother would tell her to go meditate, adding “don’t bother me or knock on my door.” P2 replied that she was going to have an out-of-body experience. Her mother responded, “Okay, well just make sure you’re back in time for dinner.” P2 remembered that her parents were never concerned about her astral travel intentions. However, in spite of their approval, she described their acceptance as passive, being neither critical nor enthusiastic. Her father did express parental concern, however, after what proved to be a frightening meditation experience. Somewhere between the age of 13 and 15, she remembers a negative entity giving her a severe scratch on her back during the meditation. Frightened by the experience, she rushed to her father, showed him the scratch on her back and explained what had happened. Her father never doubted the veracity of her statement and was observably concerned about the injury. In all sincerity, he counseled her, gently saying, “I suggest maybe you don’t do that. You need to know what you’re doing. If you’re going to be doing something like that you need to be very careful.” So there was a level of concern that it never again happen to that degree. LATER DEVELOPMENT and SUPPORT

As she got older, she began doing informal readings in her home for people who were friends of her parents. While in high school, she had a couple close friends who had similar experiences and were very supportive. Her increased awareness wasn’t without complication, however, as she became aware that some people who lacked her abilities thought of them as witchcraft, sorcery, or satanic. “Even now,” she confessed, “I have to be cautious about telling people what I do.” The lack of cultural support, however, did not keep her from continuing to develop her abilities. She continued to read metaphysical literature, do intuitive exercises with playing cards, meditate, keep a journal, and do automatic writing. Her continued use of the library to maintain a contemporary understanding of metaphysical phenomena increased her knowledge of the out of body experiences she began to have between the ages of 12 and 15.

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PARTICIPANT 3

INITIAL EXPERIENCES

Although Participant #3 (P3) was unable to quote an exact age of her initial psychic experience, she claimed that it occurred at a very young age, recalling that her parents would always say that she was “talking to imaginary people.” However, she recalls that her first mediumship experience occurred on her eleventh birthday. She had just moved from the state of Washington to Colorado. Upon moving into their new home, she was abruptly visited by a ghost that smelled of wet rotting flesh. She could hear it breathing and felt water droplets falling on her head. Since she shared her bedroom with her sister, at first she thought she had been the object of a practical joke. However, when it appeared –filmy at first -- it took the form of an old pirate, appearing as though it had been underwater for a long time. Living in a two-story ranch home, she claimed that the pirate incident was only the beginning of a series of visitations from people walking through walls or coming out of the ceiling of what she called “an extremely haunted house.” Arms would reach out to grab her, she heard voices and people singing, and she saw people coming down the living room stairs from the second floor, going into the basement. FURTHER EXPERIENCES

As she got older, her parents moved her into the basement. Here, she continually experienced ghosts roaming in and out of her room. She considered it frightening, since she had no idea what was happening. She thought she was crazy. Even at eleven years old, she thought “something’s really wrong with me” and wondered why her siblings weren’t reacting to the person at the end of the couch with a part of

his head missing. Her fear and the lack of fear in her siblings made her continually wonder what was wrong with her.

As children, she and her siblings were not encouraged to discuss their feelings or the experiences we had. Consequently, her sister thought she was talking to an imaginary person whenever she would react to a ghost. Eventually, whenever she would react to a spirit, everyone would think, “oh she’s just having a moment.” Living in what she considered “an abusive household” she eventually learned to say nothing about the ghostly events and just dealt with it. LACK OF PARENTAL SUPPORT Many of her experiences would occur during punishment, when she was locked in her room or nearby closets. Speaking for both herself and her siblings, she mentioned that they often got locked in their rooms and closets. Many of her experiences would occur when she was locked in a basement closet near her bedroom. At the age of 12, her mother was driving her to the dentist and P3 said, “watch out for the mangled guy in the middle of the road!” She had seen an accident victim in front of them

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on the road up ahead. Not seeing the same thing, however, her mother smacked her on the head. Consequently, she vowed never to mention anything unusual again. Three years later, she noticed that the experiences were becoming more intense, often occurring while she was at school. By this age, she had learned to control her response to the experiences. However, it was a real challenge to distinguish between living people and nearby discarnates, and she began to wonder if she might be going crazy. It was particularly difficult when she was at home and the spirits would connect with her for various reasons. She had learned from previous experience that she was unable to say, “Oh, by the way, there’s dead people walking through my bedroom wall at night, trying to hurt me.” No one in the house would believe her. P3 described her mother as a religious conservative and mentioned that her father traveled frequently and was rarely at home. As a family, they never discussed any issues of concern. Conversation was simply not encouraged. They never had friends over and never went to visit friends. They were seen, not heard. Socialization only took place at school or in church on Sunday. DEVELOPMENT

Near the age of 17, she was seriously wondering why these things were happening to her. Consequently, she began to find books in the library about paranormal phenomena. Initially, her only access was via the school library. Books were limited, but she read what she could find on Seth and Edgar Cayce. Later, she found books on being psychic, spirits, and dreams and astral projection. Learning about being able to see your own body after leaving it, brought her to an understanding that she was just seeing the forms of other people’s bodies. However, she questioned that concept when she pondered what happened at night. At night, when there were no living people around, she still saw the forms. She had to back up and rethink the experiences. Another book dealt with death. She learned that some spirits return after they die. She recognized images of what she had seen when her images would first show up. On “picture day,” she came to school with scratches on her face and arms and was befriended by a girl who was Catholic. When asked about her scratches, P3 began to cry and told her that she had an especially rough night with spirits that were attacking her. After listening intently, her new friend offered an explanation. “Maybe it’s the angels,” she said, “trying to get your attention. Maybe you see angels that aren’t very nice.” This was the first time that P3 had anyone actually acknowledge what she was saying and they were able to openly discuss it at length. She was told that in the Catholic faith,

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angels were acknowledged as saints and demons. The talk helped reduce her stress and she felt as though she “wasn’t quite so crazy” after all. She was still afraid to talk about her experiences at home, however.

A New Perspective

At the age of 19, P3 married an extremely conservative religious man. Nine years later, she got a divorce and married a man who was metaphysical. Her new husband was not only supportive, but empathetic, as well. She told him everything that had happened to her in her youth. He knew he needed to take her to the first metaphysical store in Colorado. They had a wealth of metaphysical books, one of which focused on communication with spirits. Since she felt she was capable of touching someone and knowing everything about them, she also found books on psychism and began to feel more at ease. Her husband also bought her a deck of tarot cards and she soon found that she had numerous people asking for a reading. She suddenly had a huge support group and numerous clients at the same time. Unfortunately, she was working full time at a convenience store at the time. Consequently, she ended up quitting her job in order to do the readings.

Similar Experiences in Others

P3 began to realize that there were several people, especially young children, that had the experience, but they didn’t understand it. She talked with several people (many of them clients) who were struggling with intuition problems of their own and their ability to see discarnates. Many of these people confessed that they had experienced the same thing when they were younger, but shut it down as they got older. However, it was now happening again. She told them it was best to remain in control. The only time she felt in control was between the ages of 19 and 24, when she was with her children. She would still experience the visitations, yet was continually ill during this time period. She eventually became angry and told them to leave her alone, saying “that’s enough. I don’t like you. And “You can stop.” They did. Although it’s cessation surprised her, she wondered why she was unable to do that when she was younger.

Mental Disturbance

At the age of 21, she became concerned about her ability to hear voices and subsequently went to a therapist who diagnosed her with Multiple Personality Disorder. She was placed in group therapy with several other women with [multiple personality disorder] from the mental health center. As she sat with the group, listening to the other women, for the first time I her life she began to feel that she was the only normal person in the room. As she watched the others change personalities in front of her, she began to realize that she was not like them and asked to be excused by her therapist. Her therapist acknowledged her request and referred her to another therapist who specialized in primal

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screams. This therapy also proved to be erroneous and P3 left, feeling totally disillusioned, yet able to understand that the voices she heard were not internal. “They would just show up,” she said. “I would be busy cleaning the house or changing my child’s diaper and I would suddenly hear a woman’s voice saying ‘talk to me’ or ‘tell Joe I love him’. And I’d wonder where it came from.”

Validation

In July 2013, P3’s mother died. Her sister returned to the house to prepare it for sale. In progress, she frequently called P3 to tell her how “the house was haunted.” “There’s so many things that yell at me in this house,” she’d say. P3 finally felt fully validated and realized that she wasn’t crazy as a kid. Her sister was now experiencing them too. Most likely, this was due to brain damage she had suffered in a bad automobile accident she had experienced six years prior. As an adult, she was now experiencing the same things that P3 had experienced in her childhood. Several years prior, however, she came home for a weekend visit. While there, her mother asked her if she had ever seen anything weird on the hall stairs. P3 was floored. Her mother had never mentioned anything like that. When asked what she had seen, her mother described a line of spirits walking down the hallway to the laundry room.

Professional Career

Today, P3 is a professional medium who does readings all day long. She travels extensively and does parties on the weekend. She goes to festivals and teaches mediumship skills to people. She is pleased about the current abundance of information available, because she has about five distressed moms per week that consult her about their children that see discarnates. She can now suggest several links and books to read about how one can acknowledge the phenomena.

Biological Parents

The adopted parents of P3 lead her to believe that her biological parents were dead, however her biological mother found her in 1996 after an extensive mutual search. Her birth mother is extremely psychic. Her uncle is even more so. Her grandmother was also a palm reader and herbalist.

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PARTICIPANT 4

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

Although Participant #4 (P4) claims that she had always been intuitive throughout her childhood, and therefore very alert and a good judge of people, she said she had never spoken to spirits nor made any predictions until the age of 35. On Thanksgiving of 2000, both her mother and niece mysteriously died two days apart. Her mother had a massive heart attack ten minutes after her Thanksgiving dinner. Two days later in the same house, her niece died in her sleep. This was her first family death experience. Self-assigned, she efficiently dealt with all the planning and coordination of the funeral arrangements. She handled the deaths well and claimed that she didn’t feel as though they had really died. She began to wonder what had actually happened. She wondered where they went and was curious to know if people really die. Her background had been in law enforcement and she claimed to be a total skeptic. You had to prove things to her. So these thoughts came as a somewhat of a surprise. She didn’t know what to believe, so she started reading books on mediumship. In the meantime, her mother would visit her dreams. P4 felt as though her first psychic/mediumship experience happened a short time later. She was a successful sales representative at the time, but had to do a lot of driving to cover her accounts. During those long commutes, she began to see her mother sitting in the passenger seat next to her and she’d start having conversations. However, at the time she thought it was a total fantasy and was reluctant to acknowledge it. She described her attitude as one of “testing.” She would ask her mother about things to do and where to go to see if she would get the correct response and avoid the temptation to think she was just making it all up. However, with little time available to research it to her satisfaction, she went on with her life and had a baby. SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES

Still, she had a strong desire to communicate, so she and her sister appeared as guests on a radio program with mediums. She had hoped to receive information from her niece relating to her death. However, when this failed to occur she began to doubt her beliefs. Not long after her failed radio experience, a friend of hers emailed P4 an article about a girl from her former neighborhood that had been murdered. Even though the young woman was from her old neighborhood, the body was found near P4’s current home,

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some thirty miles away. Although the email friend felt that P4 should know the girl, after reading the article and viewing the picture, P4 still felt as though she was a stranger and shut her computer down for the night. Everyone in her home was asleep. She was in her home office and she heard her name being called. When she turned around, the girl from the article was standing in front of her. At first she appeared in solid form. However, seconds later she became transparent. Her hair appeared very wet and when she moved, there were cuts where her arms and legs and neck attached. At first she didn’t know if it was real, but finally she said, “Ahhhh, okay. How can I help you?” Immediately the girl projected a video into P4’s head and showed her murder. Her arms and legs and head were cut off. At one time, P4 experienced the video impressions as though she was in the body of the murdered girl. She could see the men coming to hold her down, to cut off her limbs. Suddenly, when it became too frightening to endure any further, she had an out-of-body experience and immediately floated above her body, looking down to watch it. As P4 watched, the girl said, “Can you believe they’re doing it?” As they were floating and watching from above, P4 saw the whole murder. Who did it. Everything. Finally P4 said, “Okay. Now what?” The young woman replied, “You have to call the detective. You have to call them and tell them who did this.” P4 responded telepathically, “Are you kidding? I’m not going to call them. What am I going to tell them? This is too much for me. I don’t even believe this.” P4 then went to bed. The next morning when she woke up, the young woman was standing at the foot of her bed. “You again,” she said. “I’m not going away until you call them,” the young woman replied. P4 went downstairs and was greeted by her other niece –the babysitter, and told her what had just happened. P4 decided to call the police. Even though she still wasn’t sure what was real, she thought that perhaps that would help establish a level of reality. Returning to her computer, P4 looked up the article again and checked to see who was involved in the investigation. She then called the detective in charge to leave a message on his answering machine. She gave her name and said, “I know you’re going to think this is crazy, but I spoke to the murder victim and she wants me to talk to you.” They called back thirty minutes later. The first thing the detective said was, “Oh, so what did she say to you?” P4 responded, “She said for me to tell you that you haven’t found her head yet.” The phone went quiet and he then said, “We want to meet you.” She had told them something nobody could have known. They immediately thought she was part of the murder.

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Within two hours, they met at a Target store. The investigators brought a huge file folder and wanted to know more about Participant Four and her family. What did her husband do for a living? What did she do for a living? Changing the subject, P4 indicated the victim was in the car and offered to drive to an “area of significance” about 15 miles away. Upon their arrival, P4 got out of the car and declared, “She said this area is very specific or something very important is here.” P4 immediately started walking along a little dirt area amongst some trees along a stream, near some rocks. She felt as though the victim was leading her down the trail to a specific location where she stopped and began searching for the missing head. P4 was under the impression that if the head were to be found, it would solve everything. However, as she was searching through the bushes, she looked up the hill and noticed that the police had gone. She searched a little more, but failed to find the head and returned to the top of the hill. As the police returned, P4 confronted them and said “You found something here.” They had. They admitted that they had found two trash bags associated with the victim, but made no further comment. P4 completed the conversation, repeating what the victim told her to say, stating “You found her arms and her legs.” However, the police only said, “something like that” and said that they wanted to take her to another location. They proceeded to a ravine, about 13 miles away, and walked P4 to the edge. “What do you see? So you feel anything here? “ P4 looked down and said, “Oh my gosh, there’s her body. I see her main body.” Seeking more detail, the police asked what it looked like. P4 continued, “It’s naked, but with underwear on.” The police confirmed her observation,

stating, “this is where we found her torso and she did have underwear on.” P4 repeated the victim’s statements to her, stating, “she says that they killed her and then put the underwear back on her and placed it perfectly. They didn’t just throw her body over the side of the ravine. They walked it down and placed it a certain way in the dumping area.” The police remained emotionless, claiming that they would keep in touch. P4, however, wanted to find the head. She wanted a sense of closure. The following day P4 was in the waiting room at a doctor’s appointment, when she grabbed a piece of paper and began sketching the three men that the victim was showing her. She immediately called one of the detectives and said, “She showed me the three men that did this and I sketched them.” Again, the police failed to be impressed and merely told her to fax the sketch to them. Evidently, they were under the impression that P4 was the murderer’s girlfriend trying to turn them in.

Successive verification

Shortly thereafter, a detective returned her call and told her that he was holding a photograph of the person they felt was responsible for the murder. By comparison, her

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sketch was an identical match. They ended up working together on the case for the next 18 months. However, they never did find the head of the murdered victim. P4 claimed that she used to become very angry with the young woman, often saying, “You know you came to me to help you and now I’m out here spending my time looking for your head to solve this case and you’re not telling me where it is. Why am I even doing this?” Her response was, “I didn’t come to you to solve my crime. I came to show you something so horrifying that you’d wake up.” The young murder victim claimed that it was her mission to make P4 become aware of her abilities and begin to effectively utilize them. Consequently, this was not the end of her visitations. Two weeks after her initial encounter with the young murder victim, she began having ride-along spirits who would accompany her when servicing her sales accounts. Others would pop up in the middle of her sales calls. In one particular call, she was speaking with the manager of a store, when a spirit with smoke coming out of his head appeared behind her. “Tell her I’m her brother,” the spirit said. The next thing P4 knew, she was asking her client if her brother died in a fire because there was a man standing behind her trying to make that impression. Her client responded, “Oh my Gosh, yes he did.” And she would begin telling them information like, “it wasn’t accidental. He says that there was a gas leak and he couldn’t get out.” And they’d be so surprised, “Oh my God. We knew that was the way.” She appeared to know all the answers and it was non-stop. She was partially intrigued and partially concerned. Finally she got tired of the interruptions and sought out the assistance of a psychic in the mall. She felt overwhelmed by the murder case and sought the help of the store psychic for the day. However, much to her surprise, the psychic refused to give her a reading. “No,” said the psychic, “this is your purpose.” Before P4 could even say a word, the psychic added, “This incident is what is waking you up. This is what is opening you.” P4 explained that she had the spirit of a murdered girl bothering her and didn’t know what to do. Still, however, the psychic refused. “I’m being told this is your awakening. I know that you are being bothered, but you need to know how to control it. You need to set hours. They are going to burn you out. You have to be firm with them and tell them that they can’t speak with you unless it’s between certain hours. You’ve got to control it. You’ve got to take charge. You’ve got to let them know that they can only speak to you when you want to work.”

P4 stopped cold and said, “How do you do that?” “Classes,” was her reply.

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P4 was both surprised and curious and began to seek out a school. She located a large facility in Orange County called the Learning Light Foundation. She pleaded that she was being followed by dead people and needed to learn how to keep them under control. Did they have anything available on something like that? In fact, they had one scheduled to begin that evening. She signed up for the series of six weekly sessions. However, she claimed that she didn’t learn a thing. All they did was sit in a circle and invite in spirits. It was supposed to be a class on mediumship. However, all they did was talk about the spirits that were brought into their meeting. P4 would sit with a group of professional mediums and give her impressions. She never took a class. However, she was given suggestions on the development of a receptivity style. Her first psychic impressions were experienced at the age of 35. She immediately began reading people. Friends of friends, online chatrooms, online via email, just trusting that it would work. She did take some metaphysical courses, but only found them as supplemental knowledge. Tarot decks were only distracting. Four months later she quit her $100 thousand/year career and had her own radio psychic program. She now teaches the classes that she was unable to have. She teaches skills in interviewing spirits, how to get the information you want, how to validate the information and how to deliver the message. LACK OF FEARS and VERIFICATION

P4 claimed that she was never frightened by the visitation of the dead girl. Having gone to the police academy and worked as a homicide investigator, she was familiar with extremely graphic situations. During the year of her work with the police, however, they never provided any feedback from her impressions. She was never validated. Consequently, she never knew if her information was accurate –with the exception of when she was told that her sketch of the killer matched a photo they had. A year later when they were anxious to close the case, the police brought the case file to her house and reviewed the collected information. When they reviewed the identical sketches and the photos, P4 began to cry. This realization, happening a year later, was her only frightening moment. A month later, the detective called P4 to make her aware of a vigil being held by concerned citizens to again raise awareness of the case in the attempt to obtain new information about the case. As she casually drove by the vigil and naively inquired about the gathering, a young girl gave her an information handout. Immediately, the spirit of the murder victim appeared beside her in the car, identifying the young girl as her sister and indicating her part in the murder. P4 returned home to call the police, indicating her new information.

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The detective responded, offering the police’s suspicion that the family had played a part in the murder. P4 also learned that the murder victim was a nineteen year-old prostitute, who had two kids and had recently given birth to another, just prior to her murder. P4 thanked him for the update and officially resigned from the case, releasing it to another medium. She felt a sense of frustration, yet conclusion in her newly received verification.

AN ASSURANCE OF NO MENTAL DISTURBANCE

Although some sort of validation would have been appreciated, P4 never felt as though she was having a mental disturbance throughout the time period of the investigation. She was convinced that it was real, because of the thousands of radio readings she had done. Her faith in God and her trust in the accuracy of her radio work assured her that her perceptions were true. TALKING IN COMFORT

Although P4 didn’t feel as though she could talk freely about the murder victim experience in routine conversation, she did feel comfortable talking about it with her husband. In her 27 years of marriage, he was always supportive. RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND

P4 doesn’t really consider herself a religious person. Although she had studied various religions in the past, she feels that she has a personal relationship with God. Her husband was raised as a Catholic, however doesn’t currently participate in an organized religion. Like her, he has his own personal relationship with God.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

P4 was adopted. However, she knows her birth mother and feels as though there is no heredity line with her intuitive abilities. Her two sons took mediumship classes when they were younger and did readings with her students. Her daughter was also sensitive when she was younger, but in spite of her intellectual curiosity, lost her interest as she grew older.

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PARTICIPANT 5

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

Although Participant #5 (P5) claims that she had some “warm up” experiences when he was younger, she didn’t acknowledge her first psychic experience until the age of 29

when she was guided to take a psychic development course from a well-known psychic healer and teacher. In her younger years (age not known), she remembers having imaginary playmates with whom she would “teach school.” She also claims to have had an exceptional energy connection, for both healing animals and breaking glass simply by touch. Since she was having these experiences from a child’s perspective at the time, however, she had a different interpretation of what was actually happening. She remembers awakening from a dream at a young age with her heart beating so fast that her parents almost took her to the hospital. Without the proper frame of context, at the time she believed the experience to be a bad dream. However, she is now under the impression that it was a conversation with a spirit. Looking back on it now, she realizes that she may have had several contacts with spirit, merely lacking the ability to understand it as such during her childhood. Consequently, her ability to connect with spirit was quite likely with her throughout her younger years. Following her graduation from high school, she moved to Dallas to pursue a fashion career. In her earlier years she attended church on a regular basis. Yet, she was always questioning “who or what was God” and spent a great deal of time being in nature and connecting to spirit. However, she was later turned off to organized religion, preferring to connect with nature through prayer. Through prayer, she asked for the opportunity to use her mind more and she began to read more books on spirituality. The increased “openness” enabled her to access what she believed was her knowledge from previous lifetimes. Her first adult psychic development class was shared with 42 other students. This was a beginning psychic development class. So a lot of people brought their own fears and preconceptions with them … or they were just wanting for things to happen. The class also offered her a first time reading by the teacher’s mother, who was also a famous psychic. After class introductions, they were divided into pairs and asked to do a blind billet on their partner. As she began to concentrate, P5’s eye began to twitch. It was very uncomfortable and she couldn’t get it to stop. Following the exercise, the class lined up in two rows. She was in the first row and in the midst of a lecture her hand began to rise. The instructor noticed her hand rising and immediately acknowledged her by name, saying that she had a spirit enter her body. After performing a Heimlich-like maneuver, she then claimed it had been cleared.

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FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

P5 was not prepared for any of this experience. She had been a sales representative in the fashion business for the past ten years, traveling all over the country in a high paced work environment. She had always connected spiritually with what she called a God or Creator. However, she had no previous understanding of psychic matters. And yet, the lecturer said that in some way, P5 had requested the experience. She was brought to the realization that she had a psychic ability, but didn’t know why. She returned to class the following week. However, half the class failed to show. Those that returned were curious to know if she would continue the class. For them to see a spirit enter this young girl and the teacher doing a ritualistic maneuver on her, saying “the spirit had entered her” was a rather intense experience for the first night of a beginning class. Shortly after the initial experience on the first evening of class, P5 had an experience while at her home. Staring outside a window at a bird feeder with two cardinals, she saw a faint white figure appear at her right side that conveyed a telepathic message that she was her guardian angel. A few weeks later, a well-known author of Recovery books came to her class. She had lost her son in an accident. Even though the author was a friend of the instructor, P5 was chosen as the voice of the son to deliver a message. Her instructor also received several messages concerning her channeling abilities in previous lives. However, according to the instructor she was not to be a channel in this lifetime. Consequently, she attempted to refrain from trance mediumship situations, where the spirit takes possession of your body. She prefers to access spirit psychically or mentally. BOUNDARIES, LACK OF FEAR, AND PERSONAL CONCEPTION

She does, however, still sense when a spirit gets too close. Consequently, since this space invasion affects her eyes and rate of breathing, she has had to establish a sense of boundaries with spirits, often asking them to step back when they become too invasive. Still, however, in spite of how it may have appeared to the other students in her class, she was never frightened by her experience. As the class continued and students dwindled to a smaller group of learners, P5 was entered by a spirit guide that remained with her for a year. He met with her daily for six months, at first tape recording his messages, later using a typewriter and computer to prepare text for one of her inspirational books. According to P5, he was the Spirit Guide who taught her the most through mediumship. As she discovered, she had spirits lined up waiting to communicate with her. Later, her own visit to a psychic endorsed her need to set boundaries for her communications with spirits. She was able to establish communication reduction with spirits through the assistance of her spirit guide. By asking him to accompany her whenever she would do a reading, she was able to appropriately filter message input.

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NO MENTAL SITUATION AND FURTHER CAREER DEVELOPMENT P5 claimed that her experiences were never anything traumatic enough for her to question her sense of reality. Even though she didn’t understand what was occurring, she did know that it was real. Lacking credibility and support, however, she sought verification and accreditation status via Veritas at the University of Arizona, and later the Windbridge Institute. P5 considers herself to have been very lucky. In spite of her brother being a diagnosed schizophrenic, she is a very confident person and has never had much doubt about herself. “I know who I am,” she claimed, “and when you experience something, it’s a knowing. You don’t have to prove yourself or change someone else’s belief.” After her mediumship experiences began, she left her sales career within a year to become a professional speaker. She also did readings and healings out of her home, but realized that she needed additional recognition if she was going on the speaker’s circuit, so she became a backup minister at Unity. However, she had also designed and published two coffee table inspirational books based on the transcribed spirit guide notes. In spite of an expected older and more conservative audience, she began speaking to Rotary Groups. Most of the audience was probably somewhat skeptical, she thought. However, as the books became more popular, they were discovered by a Producer for NBC who was doing a television special on angels. After telling her story, she was invited to tape a portion of the show in California. TODAY at 54

P5realizes that a lot has changed today. The cultural environment is a lot more open to and curious about mediums. However, she is grateful for and appreciative of the opportunity she had for scientific validation at Windbridge and Veritas. She no longer needs to explain or prove herself. However, one of the most amusing experiences, she claimed is that of the skeptic. “You have the ability to get the information,” she said, “and then you just let them have their own experience. That’s the best. If someone can just experience it, then it’s just a knowing.” She also loves her healing work. “I’m a healer,” she said, “and I love that they (her clientele) can just experience a healing and you don’t have to even explain. They just get to experience it.”

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PARTICIPANT 6

INITIAL EXPERIENCE

Although there was no media recognition to define a psychic experience at the time, Participant #6 (P6) recalls that her first experience was between the age of 3 and 4. To be more exact, she places it in the year 1957. She was living on an island, off the state of Washington. P6 was alone in the house with her mother, when she fell to the floor in pain from a blood clot in her leg. As she fell, P6 saw an apparition appear. Even though she was at an exceptionally young age, P6 realized that she needed to get help. Since their home was in a rural wooded area, however, this was not an easy task. She had always been told to never go into the woods. However, without a thought, P6 ran out of the house and into the woods. She vividly remembers a high pitched squeal sound and the change in ambient background noise as she stepped through the woods and noticed a very beautiful woman with long golden white hair dressed in a formal gown. She put out her hands to P6 and telepathically told her to come with her. Although P6 wasn’t afraid of the woman, she did realize that there was something different about her. She wasn’t even afraid of being in the woods, which was unusual, since her parents had always warned her to stay away. The woods were known to be full of hunters and various animals, but P6 walked with the woman without fear. Time seemed to change too. P6 was unable to recall how long she was in the woods, however the presence of the woman calmed her down. When they arrived at the edge of the woods, P6 saw a house and the woman’s hand slipped away from hers. Looking to the house and then back again to the woman, P6 saw her dissolve away. P6 ran to the house and told the people inside that her mother had fallen. Responding to P6, they were able to get the address, return to her home, and get her mother to the hospital.

NO REASONABLE EXPLANATION, PRE-LIFE STORIES and PARENTAL ACCESS

Although she vividly remembers key portions of the experience, those to whom she revealed the event found it difficult to believe that it could have happened. There was just no way that a 3 or 4 year old could have navigated her way through the woods. And the incidence of a woman talking her through it telepathically made the story even less credible. Yet they couldn’t explain how P6 got there. However, there was universal appreciation for the fact that she did accomplish the trip, since her father was at work, her sisters were at school and she was alone with her mother. Later on, P6 would tell her parents about things that happened prior to her birth. She would always get a strange look in response, particularly from her mother. However, her father was more interested and would always listen with interest.

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P6 later found out that her father also possessed these abilities, even though he never admitted to it. She used to question her father about spiritual matters and he would respond with answers that were very much beyond his scope of understanding. Raised in the Midwest, her father was very conservative and as far as she knew, never had exposure to any metaphysical work or training. He was very intuitive, however. One time at the age of eight while fishing out on a lake, P6 recalls that there was an exceptional amount of time with nothing but silence. This proved to be an excellent opportunity for meditation. She remembers having a very long conversation with her father about life, death, and the existence of God. She remembers saying, “You know, sometimes I’m not sure if God is there or not.” And he said, “Just close your eyes right now” and he asked her in an almost Zen-like manner to listen and tell him everything that she heard. And she soon started to hear the water slapping against the side of the boat, the birds and insects in the trees, and the wind moving the leaves. And then he said, “Everything you hear is God.” This all came from a man without a college education. Yet he was someone who had a very deep connection with his own spirituality. She continued her intellectual discussions with her father, even during his military deployment via letters of correspondence. SPIRIT GUIDE and WITCHCRAFT

Elaborating on her initial experience reaction to the “woman in the woods,” P6 recalls that given her age, her resultant impression of the experience was merely an attempt to establish a sense of security. However she did keep in contact with the woman and later began to realize that this was her spirit guide. Although P6 would not always see her, she was always aware that she was available to her if needed. She was always thought of as a very protective friend. Between the ages of six and twelve she discovered a fascination with psychometry. During this time period, her father would take her to antique stores and junk shops. She didn’t have the same interest in antiques as her father, however when she would touch the items of clothing, she could describe the people who previously owned them. This became quite the attraction, particularly if the owner of the store knew the original owner and was therefore able to provide an instant verification. The friends she had during her teen years were interested in pretty much the same things she was. While 12 and 13 years old, she began reading tarot cards and doing ESP experiments. She used to watch television shows with Kreskin and attempt to duplicate the mind reading tricks he would do. She first realized she could see people who had passed between the ages of 13 and 14. She had an uncle who used to hide sticks of gum behind his back and ask her how many he had in his hand. She would then guess and he would always reveal the exact amount she would say. She didn’t know if she was actually correct or if he was just making it

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come out correct, so that she might have one. They had an excellent friendship. The last time she saw him, when she guessed the amount correctly, she failed to open the gum and chew it. She felt as though she couldn’t. She felt as though she needed to keep it. She kept it unwrapped for two or three weeks while she went on vacation with her parents. Night had already fallen when they arrived at the motel and it was dark as they pulled into the parking area. At the end of the parking space was a log. As they pulled into the parking space, her uncle was sitting on the log. “Don’t hit him!!!” she screamed. She jumped out of the car as soon as they had parked and ran out to greet him, but he wasn’t there. “You almost hit Uncle Tom,” she said, but her parents tried to calm her down saying, “No, we didn’t hit anybody. Everything’s fine.” When they got to their room, her father called back home and was told that about an hour earlier, her uncle had passed. She still had the unwrapped stick of gum in her pocket and began to realize that she could see people who had passed. She also had a contemporary who died when she was a junior in high school. P6 was an excellent student and had never cut class. However, the week prior to her friend’s death, she cut class and went downtown in the pouring rain. After that, her friend never returned to school. She had caught pneumonia and died a week to ten days later. Her funeral was the first one that P6 had ever experienced. When she participated in the viewing, she looked at her friend in the coffin and thought, “Well, that’s not her.” She looked entirely different. Minutes later, after returning to her seat, she saw her friend standing about ten feet from her coffin. She looked exactly the same as she did on the day they had cut school. Since death hadn’t yet become a tangible concept for her, P6 wasn’t shocked with the realization that she could see people after their death. Although she never questioned the mental health status of her spiritual interests or intuitive abilities, she did have a concern about her growing interest in witchcraft. During her teen years, she was seduced by less than positive energies associated with witchcraft. There was a self-centered focus that she had used solely for her own benefit. When things did not go her way, she felt the need to balance things back in her favor and her use of witchcraft was the way she would even the score. As she came more and more under its influence, she began to sense that she was being drawn in the wrong direction. It was self-fulfilling and intriguing, but without proper guidance it became terrifying. Shortly thereafter, another classmate with whom P6 had not shared her knowledge of the dark arts, came to her and said that her mother needed to speak with her. P6 had never been to this friend’s house and therefore did not know the mother. However, as P6 approached the house, she began to realize that the mother was a psychic. As she entered the room of the friend’s mother, she noticed the presence of crystals and candles. P6 sat down and was abruptly told that she was going to do something amazing. “You have a great deal of power,” she said, “and you’ve been chosen to do something very special, but you are heading in the wrong direction. You are heading in the wrong

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direction and you’d better put a stop to it right now.” Her friend’s mother didn’t say how to stop, but P6 realized that it was time to drop her interest in witchcraft. P6 had no idea how her friend’s mother knew of her interests, however, there was one incident that stood out in her high school years. It occurred in her school cafeteria. The room was constructed with a huge wall of windows that spanned two floors. One day a crow flew in through one of the windows and flew around in an attempt to escape about twenty to thirty feet above the floor. Some windows were open, but the more it attempted to escape, the more frustrated it became. Some students began throwing milk cartons at it. Others laughed and screamed. P6, however, stood up on a table and yelled, “SILENCE!” After an immediate compliance of the entire room, P6 repeated a charm that she had learned and the bird flew to her hand. This enabled her to calmly step down from the table and walk the bird outside the room to release it. From that moment on, she claimed, every student in the entire school was completely frightened by her. The story spread throughout the school like wildfire. This may have been how her friend’s mother was informed. 180 CHANGE

The experience with her friend’s mother proved to be the incentive she was seeking in order to drop her interest in witchcraft. As she walked away from the house, it appeared to be glowing. This was her turning point. She completely “turned her life over to God” and became a fundamentalist Christian for the next 10 to 12 years. She shut the door on everything and went to Bible School for the next six years. She spent her time praying, fasting, and serving the community. She also helped people with substance abuse problems, and resolved bad relationships and marriages. During that time period, she also married her high school friend, who had become an Assemblies of God minister. As a minister’s wife, she still utilized her psychic and intuitive abilities. However, she would always put the name Jesus in front of her statements. Every message she would get, began with “Jesus is telling me that ….” The church group she became associated with involved a communal lifestyle. There was no sexual abuse associated with the communal living lifestyle, but they raised their children together, ate their meals together, and gave all their money to the elders. Eventually, however, the church members began to see the inequities in lifestyle. Two top executive members of the church were living in excess, raking in all the money for themselves, while the rest of the church members were living in poverty. P6 and several other members discretely left the church. Following her separation from the church, P6 also divorced her husband and took another career direction as a vocational counselor. She spent a lot of time recovering from the experience of the church and began to counsel people in breaking free from belief systems in which they felt uncomfortable. P6 is currently exclusively employed as a practicing medium and instructor of the intuitive arts. She also enjoys paranormal investigations and remote viewing.