Why Study Psi?
Parapsychologists use the Greek letter psi to represent what many of us think of as psychic abilities. The three main categories studies are psychic phenomena (telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance), psychokinesis or PK (the ability to move or influence the physical world through our mental processes) and what is called survival research.
Survival research focuses on survival after death. This includes apparitions of the departed, near death experience (NDE) and reincarnation research. While some skeptics refuse to see it, there is strong evidence both inside and outside the lab that psi phenomena is real.
Parapsychologists take the position that psi is a human ability. Questions such as why psi occurs and how it can be applied are important and can only be answered through research.
It’s possible that psi abilities are growing stronger in the population or possibly diminishing and this is important information as well.
It's known (through evidence based studies) that belief in psi increases psi abilities (or at least the ability to demonstrate psi). If continued research into psi helps convince people that psi is real, it's very possible that psi abilities/phenomena will increase as a result.
Some Everyday Psi Application
I personally believe that ESP (especially telepathy and possibly some forms of PK) can be a valuable life skill. Unfortunately, in our society too many people are taught to doubt or discount their abilities. Being able to sense when something is off or read a potentially dangerous individual, for example, can save someone’s life. I think this is especially true for women and people who live or work in dangerous areas or professions.
I personally feel that I have avoided dangerous situations and at least one accident because of psi. I hope that someday people will be encouraged to make use of psi abilities instead of ignore them.
Another helpful use of psi is in business or various professions where hunches can lead to unexpected success. There are many other uses, obviously, but these are some of the most common and often taken for granted. It's worth noting that some parapsychologists believe that we use psi all the time and just aren't consciously aware of it.
I believe this is true for a lot of people.
I have always had some awareness of psi. Since childhood I've had experiences of feeling what other people felt to the point that it was like sensing an almost palpable field. At other times I've found that I was able to guess things well above chance which has saved me on more than a few tests.
I've also had the experience of tuning in on what people really mean in a conversation so clearly that it felt as if there were a surface conversation and a subtext or what I used to think of as the conversation beneath the conversation.
I've also had other occasional more evidential psi experiences.
Psi and Belief
I have never been a hardcore skeptic because I always wanted the paranormal to be "real" but I was skeptical in the sense that I wanted evidence. Sometimes the evidence I received was pretty compelling (things I couldn't have known otherwise, signs, etc.). At the time, I felt these experiences validated my beliefs.
Now as I learn more about parapsychology I'm seeing that there could be other explanations (ex. signs could be PK or revealed information could be precognition). This is something I'm still processing, to be honest. I would still like to think that some of my experiences were supernatural but it is interesting to consider what it might mean if they're not.
______________
If you're interested in learning more about psi, paranormal investigation or other aspects of parapsychology, I strongly recommend the Rhine Education Center!
Thanks to my recent Rhine Education Center course, Dreams and Altered States, I've been thinking about dreams and how they communicate information. This post shares some of my thoughts on the language of dreams.
Information Sources
As explained in our Dreams and Altered States course text, Psychic Dreaming, dreams reflect sensory, psychological or psychic input. Some examples follow.
- Psychological input might be traced to the stress of the day or worries buried deep in our subconscious. This may lead to disturbing dreams or nightmares.
- Light or sound that bleeds into our sleeping awareness are examples of sensory input that can be incorporated into our dreams.
- Psychic input has an unidentified source that may be defined in different ways by different people.
My Favorite Theory
In addition to different kinds of input, there are various theories about how information (as listed above) becomes a dream.
Psychic Dreaming shared several such theories, but the one I liked best was that of neuroscientist J. Allen Hobson. According to Hobson:
- A stimulus or input (or information source) causes neurons to fire.
- The resulting neural impulses are translated into images.
- The subconscious mind makes the images into a narrative (dream).
This process of creating a narrative is a lot like the process we use to make sense of information we receive when we're awake. But I find the idea that we do it in our sleep interesting.
Especially when it comes to psychic or spiritual dreams which I believe to be received.
Received Information
In one of his books or talks, biophysicist Rupert Sheldrake shares an analogy.
Imagine that you know nothing of radios and that you assume that the sound is generated by the radio itself. To test your theory, you open the radio and remove some of the parts. When you see that the radio no longer functions, you may assume that you have understood how a radio works. But you would be wrong.
This, according to Sheldrake, is how many scientists approach the brain. And it is how a lot of them approach dreams as well. The parts do matter, obviously, but they are not the source of the message.
Some studies, such as those done with Faraday cages, indicate this analogy isn't valid for the communication of electromagnetic signals. (Though in my view, the mind is still a receiver in a way we don't yet understand.)
In dreams the mind isn't just a receiver, however, it is also a translator—as Hobson theorizes and dream studies seem to suggest.
Dream Communication Studies
In 1962, American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) researcher Montague Ullman opened a sleep laboratory at Maimonides Medical Center. Experiments used a sender and sleeping receiver.
- The sender attempted to communicate an image.
- Receivers were monitored via EEG in order to be awakened at the end of each REM and report their dreams.
- Results were judged to be "hits" or "misses" with hits being statistically significant, indicating, that telepathy does in dreams.
Survey studies by Louisa Rhine and others reinforce the Maimonides Dream Telepathy Study findings. According to these surveys, most (65% or higher) psychic experience happens in the dream state.
Of special interest to me was that, while the Maimonides Dream Telepathy study hits were obvious hits, they were almost never an exact replica of the original image.
What This Means to Me
I have received to much evidential information in dreams to doubt that such communication is possible. I have also always known that we created the symbolism present in ordinary dreams.
Psychic and spiritual, however, seemed different me and for most of my life I believed that they symbols they contained were directly communicated. This impacted the way I interpreated my dreams.
Now, thanks to what I learned in Dreams and Altered States, I feel that I'm looking at dreams in a more discerning way.
I wouldn’t go as far to say that dream images are never directly communicated, but it seems likely that w'e translating the information we receive most of the time. To me, it is not a closed system, but I am realizing that we play a much bigger part in our experiences than I imagined.
I will still use the same resources for dream interpretation (Christian / Catholic sources, cultural symbols, personal meaning and experience, etc). But the idea that the images themselves are (probably) my translations will definitely impact my dream work going forward.
_____________________
Psychic Dreaming (affiliate link), written by our professor Loyd Auerbach, is available through Amazon and elsewhere. Please note: if you buy Psychic Dreaming via my Amazon affiliate link, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you.
To ask Professor Auerbach a question live on YouTube, check out his channel at YouTube.com/@AskProfessorParanormal
For more on about the Rhine Research Center and their wonderful online classes, please visit RhineOnline.org I am not taking Intro to Parapsychology and plan to share some of what I learn in an upcoming post.
What Is Shared Death Experience?
I heard famed near-death researcher Dr. Ray Moody speak on NDEs and shared death experience in 2015. But I didn't fully understand what a shared death experience was until I read Glimpses of Eternity (affiliate link) earlier this week.
A shared death experience occurs when a person takes part in the spiritual experience of someone who is dying. This experience can take many different forms. And Glimpses of Eternity does a great job of showcasing that.
Accounts of Shared Death Experience
Dr. Moody didn't hear about shared death experience until after his ground-breaking book on near-death experience, Life After Life (affiliate link) was published in 1975. The shared death phenomena has been studied before however (as doctor Moody points out), going all the way back to the early days of the Society for Psychical Research.
The 19th century book Phantasms of the Living (affiliate link), written by two prominent members of the Society, includes multiple examples of what were once called deathbed visions. Several cases from Phantasms of the Living are included in Glimpses of Eternity.
Shared death experience has also been discussed by Melvin Morse. MD in his book Parting Visions (affiliate link).
Like most of Dr. Moody's books, Glimpses of Eternity, features a wealth of first-hand accounts. These accounts include full-fledged out of body NDE-type events, the observation of unusual phenomena around the dying, extraordinary dreams and more.
I enjoyed reading these reports and feel there is a lot that we can learn from them.
Elements of a Shared Death Experience
In Glimpses of Eternity. Dr Moody provides a list of features common to the shared death experience. He is also very clear in saying that shared death experience may include several or as few as one of these elements and that he is aware of no shared death experiences that includes them all.
While most shared death experience occur in a waking state, Dr. Moody cites some that have occurred in dreams, including the 1988 shared death experience described by Melvin Morse. MD in Parting Visions.
The fact that some shared death experiences occur in dreams was of special interest to me because I once had an unusual dream about someone who was near death and then recovered. This dream included some of the elements Dr. Moody associates with shared death experience:
- A change of geometry, where rooms either change shape or appear to open into another reality Dr. Moody describes as a "different and larger dimension."
- A mystical light that Dr. Moody considers to one of the most profound features of a near-death experience. This light is often described as having substance. According to Dr. Moody it is "no ordinary light" but one that may lead to mystical experience and spiritual transformation. This light may fill the room, be observed in the eyes of the dying or in the translucent glow of the entire body of the person near death.
- Music that has no physical source but can be heard by the dying and others present.
- Co-living a life review similar to the type reported in a classic NDE except in this case the dying and healthy observer share the experience.
- An out-of-body state which Dr. Moody describes as a "fairly common" element of a shared death experience. This element is cited in some of the most profound and NDE-like shared death reports.
- Encountering unworldly or "heavenly" realms which may include a border or barrier. As with many NDEs this border may be a bridge, river or other boundary.
- The appearance of a fine mist that may have a human shape and tendency to drift upward and disappear.
What Can Shared Death Experience Tell Us?
When I heard Dr. Moody speak, he was quite excited about shared death experience. This was because the shared death experience contradicts the main argument people make about NDEs. This argument--that an NDE is the product of a dying brain--cannot be applied to perfectly healthy people who share the experience of someone else's passing.
Some first-hand shared death experiences described in Glimpses of Eternity involve entire groups of (healthy) people. In these cases, members of the group perceived varied - though coherent - phenomena. One or two observers might perceive light or a vision of the departed, for example, while others only hear music or have a sense that something unusual is happening. This supports the idea that the shared death experience is telepathic in nature.
Sometimes shared death experiences are predictive. At other times they announce that someone has died in another location. The fact that certain elements repeat from experience to experience is compelling.
The part of Glimpses of Eternity (affiliate link) that impressed me most, however, was the idea that shared and near-death experience may have played a part in the formation of religious beliefs about the afterlife. Noted individuals like Egyptologist Cyril Aldred, NDE researcher Kenneth Ring, PhD and Dr. Moody himself have all made this suggestion. To me, this makes sense.
Instead of undermining religious belief, I think it supports it.
Please check back for future posts on dreams, mystical experience and more, including my upcoming video about my own experience!
___________
This post includes Amazon Affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I will get a small percentage of the sale, at no cost to you.
I’m not sure when the vision I called a "waking dream"* first started, but it came and went throughout my twenties and thirties. And it was always the same.
I would be fast asleep when an overwhelming fearfulness would shock me awake. When I opened my eyes, the dark shape was there, shapeless but malignant. Absolutely black against the lesser darkness of my room.
I would scramble backwards in bed, pressing myself up against the headboard as if I could somehow push myself through the wall and into the next room.
By then, I was completely awake. But the shape would remain, hovering ominously next to the ceiling. I would fumble for the lamp in a panic, but even after I got it on, the dark shape would persist for several agonizing moments before it dissolved slowly into the light.
My ex-husband never saw it. But other people did, including our upstairs tenant and a no-nonsense handyman who told me in all seriousness that our house was haunted. People in that house, and the one we would live in next, often felt like they were being watched, mechanical toys turned on on their own, electronics failed unexpectedly, and the clear sound of a woman laughing was heard by two individuals at the same time.
In both locations, my middle boy was subject to night terrors so extreme that he would wake up screaming. In the completely unretouched picture (above), you can see him, completely overshadowed by a hovering black shape.
______________
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWGfZnlLuzmGz2XF6u1wstfCArYtFnC8TH8WLcpzIII9L9v0rLyEqn0Vx4Wlz03xrCIeqj-J6o8EYdhJh-W1ngbM338uJEHloWu5VpAjwpTK3-CKKrbdX2id1ORYkLqrTbSY298WocMm92ldq2nzxdkpHM9MWW9xQcTDSw_-y1PIGkGzwBxosn_TB2RNF/w640-h482/Bartbara%20Graver%20-%20Dream%20Gates%20-%20Mystic%20Reiview.jpg)
The Dream Gate Dream
A couple of weeks ago, I had a lucid dream about a high ancient-looking stone wall. The wall was covered with vines and there was a recessed rustic plank gate or doorway. The overall effect was medieval and charming.
It might have been dusk or overcast in the dream but I could see everything clearly. Just above the doorway, I saw a symbol that looked like a triquetra. I even exclaimed (in the dream) "that's a triquetra," except I actually said "trifecta," as in horse racing, because things get garbled for me in dreams. Either way, I was excited because I love all things Celtic, so I woke up in the middle of the night and recorded the dream (and drew the symbol) in my dream journal.
Earlier that month, I’d been told that ancient dreamers were always on the lookout for gateways in their dreams. Since my impression in the dream was that I was seeing a wall, not a building, I felt that what looked like a door to modern eyes was technically a gate.
So I made myself go back to sleep and back into the dream. I found the door again easily and everything was the same—except that instead of the symbol above the door, there was a long narrow sign with lettering.
Annoyingly, I find it hard to read in dreams and I couldn’t read the sign. I woke up again and wrote down the second dream and went back to sleep, but I didn't go back to the door, that night, or go through it.
When I woke up the next morning I was thinking how nice it was that I dreamt about the triquetra which I remembered as representing the Trinity and the Welsh triads and other pleasant things. Then I looked at my dream journal and saw that the symbol I had drawn had three interlocking triangles instead of three loops.
I was pretty sure I remembered the triangle symbol from a passing interest Germanic mythology. I thought it was probably Scandinavian and when I googled it, there it was.
It was not a triquetra. It was a valknot.
No one is absolutely sure what the valknot symbolizes. Due to its presence on Old Norse funerary items, however, it has been associated with the dead. My thoughts on the dream in light of this particular symbol were that this door is closed and maybe it should stay closed. Or maybe not.
One Gate, Two Perspectives?
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. —Matthew 18:18
Then Holy Week came and I noticed another gate / doorway in the Icon of the Resurrection which is traditionally displayed in Eastern Christian churches at Easter.
The Icon of the Resurrection shows Jesus standing on the broken down gates of the netherworld as He pulls Adam and Eve from their tombs to freedom. You can also see King David, Moses, John the Baptist, and others. On the left below Jesus' and the fallen gates, you can see broken locks and the devil, bound. This represents what Jesus did after the crucifixion when he defeated death and set the captives free.
Some of my most interesting spiritual dreams have been very hard to decipher. Some seem to be about various afterlife locations, so I can't help wondering if the gate I dreamt about was that kind of dream. I also couldn't help wondering if the Icon of the Resurrection portrayed a similar gate—or even the same one, from a different perspective.
Dreams have been many things to me—an inspiration for my creative work, an occasional window to psychic and / or spiritual experience, helpful reminders (both practically and relationally), and more. But this doesn't mean that I always fully understand them. And I'm not sure I understand the Dream Gate dream or the odd coincidence of seeing the Icon of the Resurrection for the very first time.
What Does This All Mean?
When it comes to dreams, the question is always the same. What does it mean?
And the truth is, I'm not sure. I'd had a tough week. Historically, several close family members have died in April, including my mother (April 15). Then there is the Passion, which is less brutal than it is hopeful but still pretty darned brutal overall.
This year a family member was hospitalized on Holy Saturday with a serious illness and stayed in the hospital through Easter and into this week. Various small and not so small things went wrong. Some people were kind and others were not. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep.
So I don't actually know if I'm ready to unpack this particular dreams. But I have considered some of the questions it brought up for me.
Should I go through that particular dream doorway?
Given the connection with the valknot and the icon and the fact that the gate was closed, I think not, or at least not yet.
Am I divining by dreams?
Probably. But I do pray for guidance in dreams and I also pray to understand that guidance. I try to stay reasonably near to a state of grace and I believe that my guardian angel watches out for me.
To me, when the Bible talks about divining, the warning is specific to that time (against listening to the gods worshipped by non-Jewish people in that particular era). This does NOT mean that warning can't extend to other times and places. I don't practice divination (tarot, pendulums, spirit communication, ouija etc.) because I feel (and the Church teaches) these things are modern day examples of things we should avoid.
I do pay attention to my dreams, however, and what I do with them is a form of divination.
Should I keep working with my dreams?
I think so. The key for me is to be open to dream experience while staying within the broad parameters of my Catholic faith.
Dreams can be tricky. Like many other life experiences, they can take us in the right direction or in the wrong one. But I believe they're given to us for a reason and that—as the Icon of the Resurrection clearly shows—God is always in the mix.
____________________
Please note: I use Catholic Christian symbols and sources in dream interpretation because that is my religious tradition. It's what I am familiar with. You may want to work with what's familiar to you.
The History of My Channel
I started the MysticReview YouTube channel in 2011, just a few months after I started this blog. I posted a couple of videos shortly after starting the channel and then lost access.
I tried to get the channel back several times over the years and finally decided it was gone for good.
Then, earlier this year, I started blogging as the Mystic Review again. So I decided to try to get the channel back one last time. I asked myself, what was my very oldest gmail? And this time, I got it right.
I recovered my original Google account and regained access to the channel. To me, this seemed like a good sign and I'm excited about doing videos again.
The video above is my intro to the channel. I’m a little ghostly in it, thanks to turning my ring light on too high, but the next one will be better. Also I mentioned a shared NDE in the video. My experience was actually not necessarily that, but I'll talk about it more in an upcoming video or podcast.
I also post all of the same content to my podcast The Mystic Review, which is available on most popular podcast apps!
What’s Up Next on the Channel
One of the reasons I wanted to access the YouTube channel (after returning to the Church) was to take down the card reading video I'd posted way back when. But now that I can take it down, I've decided I don't want to.
I will NOT be returning to tarot. But there are a couple of points I'd like to make about divination (using my old card reading video as an example) in a future post.
The main point of this post is that it all worked out. And I’m planning future videos on books, courses, events and media on topics like dreams, altered states, psychic phenomena and the paranormal.
I may talk about faith from time to time (both in the blog and on the channel) but it isn't going to be my primary focus. Having said that, I will be staying within the parameters of Catholicism proper.
If any the topics mentioned interest you please subscribe to the channel!
Learn more about the Rhine Institute at RhineOnline.org!
What's Up Next on the Blog
The Dream
I had several dreams last night. The one I dreamt just before I woke up was a short dream about a beautiful green plain filled with white buffalo. Not a herd, but several (I don't remember how many exactly). The point of view of the dream was above the plain looking down. There was a voiceover saying, "they were looking out on a wide plain, but it was the white buffalo that held everyone's attention."
Biblical Associations
When I look at a dream that I think may be spiritual, I turn to biblical and religious references first. I do this because as a Catholic, I've read the Bible and am familiar with Church traditions. So these elements tend to be part of my personal symbology.
There are no buffalo in the Bible so I focused on the color white and the significance of a green plain. I immediately associated the green plain with the green pasture of the 23rd Psalm. To me, the 23rd Psalm is about trusting and following God.
My favorite verse about the color white is from Isaiah, so that was another easy association.
Come now and let us discuss this, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow. Though they are as red as crimson, they shall become as white as wool.. - Isaiah 1:18 (New Catholic Bible)
After my first impressions, I like to do a word search in an electronic Catholic Bible to find key terms (like white) and read through the verses cited. I also use Fr. Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary. (I have the print version but you can access the entire dictionary free online.)
The liturgical color for all feasts of the Trinity, Our Lord (except his Cross and Passion), the Blessed Virgin, angels, all saints except martyrs, and on Sundays during Easter Season; also in the celebration of the sacraments that do not imply penance or the remission of sins. White is a symbol of joy, purity, innocence, holiness, and glory. Pope St. Pius V (reigned 1566-72) prescribed that the ordinary papal attire be white. - Fr. Hardon via Catholic Culture
There may be a lot of Bible passages for a single term, so I try to focus on those that have personal meaning to me and / or are coherent with other aspects of the dream.
While white is occasionally associated with symptoms of illness in the Bible, I don't feel that applied to this dream.
More often, white is used to describe angels, God and Jesus in the Bible. It is mentioned in connection with the transfiguration and the resurrection. There are so many references to the color white in Scripture that I can’t list them all here.
But Mary [Magdalen] stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid. - John 20:11,12 (Douay-Rheims Bible)
The four horses mentioned in Revelation and in Ezekiel include a white horse. In Revelation, Jesus rides a white horse. The lamb of God who represents Jesus is white as is the countenance of the Ancient of Days.
The common denominator in all of this is that white is associated with the holiness. What's really interesting about this to me, is that the Indian meaning of the white buffalo is very similar.
Native American Associations
I have an interest in the symbols and teachings of indigenous cultures. I knew the white buffalo was significant in Native American culture but I didn't know the details, so I decided to do some research.
I learned that there is a Lakota myth about the White Buffalo Calf woman who was a supernatural being who appeared to teach the people the seven rituals. All the rituals are fascinating but I found Wanáǧi Yuhápi or the Keeping of the Soul especially interesting.
According to the Sacred White Buffalo Woman, when a Lakota person dies, their souls must be purified so they can reunite with Wakȟáŋ Tȟáŋka - the Great Spirit. Traditionally, a lock of hair from the departed was cut and held over a piece of burning sweet grass for purification purposes. After being wrapped in a piece of sacred buckskin, called the soul bundle, the bundle was kept by the soul’s keeper in a special place within the tipi. The Keeper of the Soul vowed to live a life of harmony until the soul can be released - typically about a year. After a commemorative banquet and gift-giving ceremony, the bundle containing the soul was carried outside and released. It is said that the soul travels along the Spirit Path - Milky Way - to reach Mayá Owíčhapaha - the old woman who judges each soul. The one-year commemoration remains a common ceremony today. - "Seven Lakota Rites"
There are prophetic ideas linked to the white buffalo as well:
For many American Indians, the birth of a white buffalo calf is the most significant of prophetic signs, equivalent to many Christian signs such as weeping statues. - "Meaning of the Sacred White Buffalo"
This video tells the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman:
General Associations
General associations include anything that occurs to me about the dream. It can have to do with plot, context, or symbolic meanings not previously explored.
The point of view in the dream was above, looking down. This, combined with the voiceover, suggested an omniscient, or all-knowing narrator. A group of people were observing the white buffalo below and the buffalo were what held their attention. The unseen group thought the white buffalo were important.
Waking Context
To me, the waking context of the dream matters. This context could include related events that seem to be connected with the dream as well as any prayers or petitions that precede it.
People have practiced dream incubation from ancient times to the present day. The practice can be simple or involved. The way I usually approach dream incubation is through prayer. In this instance, I was praying for insight on my writing and learning about dreams.
I have heard various priests say that we should just ignore our dreams and I understand why they have this opinion. But to me, Scripture and the early Church take a different view. In spite of that, I feel some conflict about working with my dreams.
Possible Meanings
- The dream reinforces the idea that dreams have meaning in many cultures. Dreams were valued in biblical times, as well as in many other cultures.
- There are common cross-cultural themes in this dream. I am a Catholic with an interest in American Indian culture and some very distant Indian heritage, so this feels right to me.
- I feel this dream speaks to the importance of following God (omniscient viewpoint), staying close to Jesus (lamb of God), working with my guardian angel (man in white), and cultivating virtue (holiness). These are all things to think about.
- Because a group of people are observing the buffalo, I think the dream might be of interest to others, which is why I've posted it to the blog.
- The story of the White Buffalo Calf woman is something that I want to reflect on further.
- There are prophetic elements in both the Indian and the biblical resources. I'm not sure what that means as of this writing, but I'm open to further insight.
- I usually share important dreams with a good Catholic friend who has a gift for dream interpretation. She gave me some wonderful insight on the dream I had prior to this one but we did not get to the buffalo dream yet.
As you may have noticed, I put a lot time into interpreting this dream even though it’s short. This is why I don't take a deep dive into most of my dreams, though I do record them all. To me, it is worth the effort because there is so much to learn!
____________________
Please note: I use Catholic Christian symbols and sources in dream interpretation because that is my religious tradition. It's what I'm familiar with. You will probably want to consider what's familiar to you.
When I was away from the Church, I was fascinated by dreams, paranormal experience, psychic phenomena and the unexplained. For a while, after I came back to the Faith, I stepped away from all of that. Now, I'm seeing things differently.
In this first episode of the new Mystic Review podcast, I talk about the testimony I was working on how my approach to paranormal experience, NDEs and spiritual dreams helped me see things in a new light.
As many of you know, this comes on the near eve of (self) publication but I feel I it's something I need to correct. In the book and in life!
Future episodes will be posted here on the blog, as well as to The Mystic Review podcast which is available on most popular podcast apps as well as on YouTube at youtube.com/@mysticreview (there is also a show page at TheMysticReview.com, if you want to check it out).
The podcast will cover things like consciousness, dreams, and the paranormal from a more scientific perspective (I said Catholic in the podcast but that's not really right, though we will stay within the boundaries of the faith—which is a bigger place than I previously imagined).
I hope you will join me!
Lecture and Meeting with Dr. Ray Moody
I heard Dr. Ray Moody speak on the topic of near-death experience in 2014. Like many people in the audience, I had been influenced by Dr. Moody's first book, Life After Life, and considered him an authority on near-death experience (a phrase coined by Moody himself).
Written in 1975, Life After Life, is based on case studies of people who reported having had very similar, apparently spiritual experiences when very near death. The book became a runaway best-seller and near-death experience (or NDE) became a household word.
I found Dr. Moody to be a charming and articulate speaker. His presentation covered a range of NDE related topics which included history, philosophy and the nature of the NDE itself. In this post I will touch upon some of them.
According to Dr. Moody, the common elements of the NDE included the experience of a hyper-reality which is largely indescribable, vivid color, a warm and loving light, the presence of deceased loved ones, a tunnel or passage, and a panoramic life review. In some NDEs a being of great compassion conducts the review and tells the individual that they must return to their former life.
This was of special interest to me because I had experienced NDE like elements in my dreams. These included hyper-reality, ineffability, vivid color, beings of warmth and love, meetings with the departed and various passages (train tracks, board walks, halls). These were not NDEs obviously but I did receive information I hadn't known about before. In several such dreams in fact, I learned of the death of people I'd lost contact with through the dream.
While I was aware of some of the similatities between these dreams and NDE at the time, there was one connection I did not make then, but have only come to recently.
The Influence of Ancient Greece
Durung the presentation, Dr. Moody talked about the ancient Greeks, and their ideas about life after death. He was especially interested in the practice of necromancy in ancient Greece. Because of this interest he had visited the ruins of the oracle of the dead in Greece, at Ephyra. Ephyra was a place once thought to be the gateway to the underworld.
Upon returning to his home in Anniston Alabama, Dr. Moody set about constructing his own oracle of the dead (or necromanteion). In his book, Reunions, Moody shares his own experience with the dead in his necromanteion and gives instructions in how to construct your own.
When I asked Dr. Moody for book recommendations at the close of the lecture, he gave me the names of two books on necromancy, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation and Greek and Roman Necromancy. Both of which I bought.
One thing that stood out to me about the lecture then was something Dr. Moody said about a life almost wholly devoted to the study of NDE . Everything I have done in life, he told us, is because of my interest in ancient Greece.
Not faith. Not science. Greece.
At the time, I was just begiining to learn about Greek culture. So, I loved the fact that Dr. Moody and I shared the same interest.
Years later, the fact that Dr. Moody had recommended books on Greek necromancy made me uneasy. I even recorded a podcast saying that I was suspicious of NDE, due in part to it's connection to necromancy.
But my views have charged. An NDE is not necromancy, or at least not necessarily, and I am interested in the phenomena.
My Changing Perspective
For me, the most significant information given in Dr. Moody's lecture was something that didn't seem especially meaningful at the time: Dr. Moody's (then) current research interest in shared NDEs.
A shared NDE is when one individual's near-death experience is psychically shared by a second person, oftentimes a friend or family member of the dying.
I had a dream experience that may have some elements in common with a shared NDE and this is definitely something I want to look into. I will be talking about this dream and what I learn in a future video or podcast.
Where I'm at Now
I have been writing about dreams, spirits and psychic phenomena for thirteen years now and my thinking has evolved. I no longer accept everything the way I did when I first started out but I don't discount things out of hand (as I did in the early days of my return to the Faith) either.
I'm now very interested in the possible connection between NDE and psychic dreams. My most important dreams have NDE-like elements. This is something I want to explore further. So I decided to begin taking courses at the Rhine Research Center in order to do that.
I have just started my first course but I plan to continue with the study of parapsychology and eventually get my certificate. The name of this course I'm taking now is Dreams and Altered States of Consciousness which is absolutely perfect. Just like God's providence.
As always. I will keep you posted!
Dr. Moody and Me
Dr. Ray Moody is a lovely, gracious man who has made an amazing contribution to our understanding of NDE and I am honored to have met him!
When I shut down The Mystic Review in early 2018, I didn't think I'd ever come back to it. But, for some reason, I hung onto the domain. And I kept the original blogging platform, too.
Instead of deleting my old posts, I simply unpublished them. This came in handy when I decided to write my testimony. To my mind, however, those old posts told the story of the person I used to be. Not the person I had become.
But that wasn't entirely accurate.
Starting and Restarting
I started The Mystic Review in 2010 when I was struggling to make sense of a very unusual dream. The blog was a place where I could share my search for answers and I loved doing that.
Unfortunately, the search I’d undertaken led into the New Age and floundered. Returning to my Catholic faith was another story.
Unlike the New Age, Catholicism answered all the big questions. Why are we here? Where are we going? How should we proceed?
I’m grateful for those answers and the certainty that the Faith provides.
But in writing my testimony, I realized that there were other questions in between the big ones. And I cared about those answers, too. So it made sense to come back to The Mystic Review and try again.
As of this writing the blog includes a mix of old and new(er) posts, many of which need to be updated. So I hope you'll bear with me on that.
The newer posts were posts I added to the platform after I returned to the Faith. I don't necessarily agree with everything said in these posts. I've unpublished some of these but probably not all.
The older posts need to be sorted. Most will remain unpublished. Some will be updated. A few will be re-published, as is.
I hope to add new posts a few times a month. Topics will include dreams, angels, psychic phenomena, miracles, paranormal investigation, prayer, NDEs, spirits and more. Spiritual posts will reflect a Catholic perspective. But not all posts will be spiritual in nature.
I hope you will check back!
When I finished my upcoming book, The Spirit Dream, and turned it over to beta readers, I got some great feedback. The comments on NDE and psychic phenomena, in particular, convinced me to include an alternate viewpoint on those topics.
A few days later, Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin mentioned parapsychology and the Rhine Institute on his Mysterious World podcast. As it turns out, he actually taught a class on parapsychology at the Rhine. I like Jimmy Akin, so that got my attention. By the end of the day, I'd ordered a new book on parapsychology.
After reading that book, Parapsychology: The Controversial Science (affiliate link), I couldn't deny that there is statistically significant research on psychic phenomena, precognitive dreams and NDE. I realized that I had been too black and white in my thinking, both in my media and the The Spirit Dream. After some thought, I made the difficult decision to rewrite parts of the book and make some significant changes both here in the blog and in my media.
This isn’t a 180-degree turn. I still think demonic influence is real, and that discernment is important. I still want The Spirit Dream to be cautionary in the regard. But I also think that my time as an evangelical might have influenced me more than I initially thought.
In Parapsychology: The Controversial Science, the author talks Benedict XIV and his work as promotor fidei. He ends that section by saying that Catholics were the first parapsychologists because we didn’t just accept miracles at face value and say, this supports our position. We investigated them with rigor. And to me, that is one of the things that sets Catholicism apart. We value truth.
Now I have a new book called The Philosopher King: The Humanist Pope Benedict XIV (affiliate link), which came all the way from England and from the library of journalist, novelist and parapsychologist, Andrew Carr Mackenzie. And I can't wait to read it.
Lastly, if the scholarship stars align, I may be taking a course at the Rhine Institute about dreams and consciousness and possibly other parapsychology classes after that. My first major in school was experimental psychology, and I'm still interested in the science.
As always, I'll keep you updated!
_________
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you buy something through on of my links, I'll get a small part of the sale, at no cost to you!
Translate
Social Icons