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APPORT: The appearance in the
séance room of objects, apparently by an unknown method of penetration of matter through matter. This is a very rare phenomenon.
A PRIORI: Based on opinion or theory rather than on actual observation.
AUTOMATISM: Action not controlled by the will.
AUTOMATIC WRITING: Scripts produced without the control of the conscious self.
APPARITION: A supernormal appearance which suggests the presence of a person, living or dead. Extensive research shows that apparitions appear most frequently when special anxiety, and the desire to send an urgent message, coincide with the physical extremity of the agent.
CATALEPSY: A state in which a person loses consciousness and the power to feel, and the muscles become rigid. A state of body-rigidity during which the normal functions are suspended.
CLAIRAUDIENCE: Literally "clear hearing". A faculty of extra-sensory perception, in which the medium can hear the spoken words of the unseen discarnate personalities.
CLAIRVOYANCE: Literally "clear seeing". A faculty of extra-sensory perception, in which a psychically gifted person can see and describe the unseen or invisible psychic personalities present in a
séance room; or can describe distant events or objects.
CRYPTESTHESIA: A term coined by Prof. Charles Richet to describe a 'sixth sense'-that is, perception, by means of an unknown mechanism, which produces cognition as an end result. Today this faculty is more commonly expressed by the term extra-sensory perception.
ECTOPLASM (more commonly called TELEPLASM): A subtle living matter present in the body of a medium, and which is capable of assuming various semi-solid or solid states for a brief time, which can be, and have been felt, and photographed.
GHOST: The apparition, or supernormal appearance of a deceased person to someone living.
LEVITATION: The supernormal lifting or raising of physical objects (tables, chairs, even human bodies) by means of some invisible force.
MATERIALIZATION: The production, by invisible discarnate agencies, of objective, physical masses, in the form of human hands, faces, and hair, from the invisible substance teleplasm. Such productions are capable of sustaining their objective reality long enough to be photographed.
MEDIUM: "In the middle" or "a go-between". A person who appears to have above average
'psychic' abilities. Such abilities can be developed to serve as a channel between the incarnate and the discarnate. The faculty of mediumship is a gift; it operates without regard to sex, education, race, or religion. It is not a pathological state, as its development leads to an expansion of original powers.
METAPSYCHICS: A term proposed by Prof. Charles Richet, in France, in 1905, as a name for a science dealing with psychological phenomena which appeared to be due to the activity of intelligent forces independent of the human body, or latent within it.
PARAESTHIA: Abnormal pricking or tingling sensations, often experienced by mediums, and which are considered to indicate the presence of unseen entities.
PARAPSYCHOLOGY: The science of the study of the extra-sensory perception (ESP) and their processes in human, animal, and more recently, plant consciousness.
PATIENCE WORTH: Renowned 'control' of Mrs. John Curran of St. Louis. She manifested first through the ouija board. She dictated many poems of extremely high literary merit, and long novels The Sorry Tale (of the time of Christ) and Hope Trueblood, set in mid-Victorian England. Her main efforts came through Mrs. Curran from about 1916 to 1925. On several occasions Patience Worth manifested through the Hamilton mediums, in the early 1930's.
PSEUDOPOD (from the Greek 'pseudo' meaning false): This term is used to designate the modified tip of an ectoplasmic extrusion, forming a rudimentary hand, capable of grasping objects and moving them.
PSYCHIC: From the Greek word 'psyche' meaning 'soul' or 'indwelling spirit'. The term 'psychic' is commonly used to describe so-called supernormal phenomena.
PHENOMENON: From the Greek word 'phenomenon', meaning 'appearance'. Plural is 'Phenomena'. Psychical phenomena are occurrences which appear to function outside the realm of presently known physical processes, and which support the possibility of mental activity apart from the body, such a prophetic or mystical dreams, visions, apparitions, and so on; events experienced directly, rather than through the five channels of normal sense perception.
SIMULACRUM: A faint, shadowy or partial semblance of an object.
TELEPLASM: From the Greek 'tele', meaning 'far' or 'at a distance', and from the Greek 'plassein' meaning 'to mould' or 'shape'. A teleplasm is something moulded or shaped. It is defined as shapeless cloud-like or semi-fluid substance, present in the body of a psychically gifted person. It can be externalized and solidified into various shapes and forms apparently by the action of the will of the trance-control. Some of the teleplasmic forms may appear crude and even repulsive; others are very beautiful. Teleplasm can become visible and tangible for a short time, and can appear as fingers, hands, faces, hair, or even partial, or full human bodies. It then disintegrates and disappears and is re-absorbed into the medium's body. It has been seen in its various aspects in good red light, in good white light, and has been photographed many times by competent investigators, such as Sir William Crookes, Prof. W. J. Crawford, Mme Bisson, Gustave Geley, Eugene Osty, Dr. Hans Gerloff, Dr. Crandon, Dr. Hamilton.
It has been analyzed at Harvard Medical School, and in Poland, in 1916, where it was reported as consisting of 'albuminoid matter accompanied by fatty matter and cells found in the human organism. Starch and sugar, discoverable by FeWing's test, were absent' (from A Popular Dictionary of Spiritualism, by Norman Blunsdon, Citadel Press, New York, 1962).
TELEKINESIS: From the Greek 'tele' meaning 'far' or 'at a distance'; 'kinesis' - power or energy. Telekinesis is the term used to describe the movement of physical objects at a distance, by some type of invisible energy, possibly emanating from the body of the medium.
TRANCE: A sleep-like condition, an induced state of unconsciousness. In the true mediumistic trance the medium's own personality is temporarily submerged, and he or she is taken over or 'invaded' by a trance-personality or trance-control, who speaks, using the medium's voice or who writes, using the medium's hand and arm. Trance-speech and trance-writing are called trance-automatisms.
VOICE-BOX: A teleplasmic (or ectoplasmic) formation, created by the trance-control, and simulating the human mouth, tongue and lips. By means of the 'voice-box' the control is able to speak directly, rather than through the medium's own vocal apparatus. Such 'direct-voice' teleplasms are rare, but have been photographed by Dr. Hamilton and by Dr.
Crandon.
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