"True skepticism has nothing to do with disbelief," says Susan Blackmore. "It is about taking people's claims seriously and trying to understand them." As a starry-eyed student, Blackmore was convinced of the reality of astral planes, telepathy, and life after death. She was determined to devote her life to parapsychology, but what she found wasn't what she had bargained for. None of her cleverly devised experiments revealed a hint of the psi she was seeking. In a determined effort to find it somehow, she tested young children in play groups, trained students in imagery and altered states of consciousness, and even put Tarot cards to the test. She visited haunted houses and was regressed to a "past life." Finally, accused of being a "psi-inhibitory experimenter" with the power of abolishing paranormal effects, she visited other, more successful, experimenters. Here she found only errors in their experiments.
In this new and updated edition of The Adventures of a Parapsychologist, Blackmore is at last at liberty to explain just what she found in those ill-fated experiments at Cambridge. She brings her story up to date in a lively and personal account of one scientist's never-ending search for the paranormal.

The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal contains over 90 articles by more than 50 experts on topics including the strictly paranormal (psychokinesis, channeling, levitation, astrology, phrenology, palmistry); the historical (mediums, psychic research, alchemy, Houdini); the philosophical (miracles, survival of death, reincarnation); and work on investigatory photography, statistics, the media and the Bermuda Triangle. In his foreword, Carl Sagan says, "I wish [this book] were on the shelves of every newspaper editorial desk and every television newsroom, to encourage more skeptical backbone in reporting . . . . [I]n school libraries so that children would have some counterbalance to the many paranormal and mystical claims in our society."

'The Spirits Book' (1857), written by Allan Kardec, is widely regarded as the most important piece of writing in the 'Spiritist' canon. It is the first in a series of five books that Kardec wrote that are collectively known as the 'Spiritist Codification'. Although the other four books; 'The Medium's Book', 'The Gospel According to Spiritism', 'Heaven and Hell' and 'The Genesis According to Spiritism' are of great importance to the Spiritist movement it is 'The Spirits Book' that lays out the doctrine of the belief system. The Spiritist movement was founded by Allen Kardec and although its roots lay in Spiritualism there are differences in belief. The most important of these differences is the Spiritist belief in reincarnation. Although some Spiritualists believe in reincarnation and some do not, all Spiritists consider it as a basic truth of their ideology. In the 1850's, whilst investigating the afterlife, Kardec communicated in seances with a collection of spirits named 'The Spirit of Truth' who discussed many important topics such as life after death, good and evil, the universe and the origin of spirits, amongst others. 'The Spirit of Truth' counted many of history's great thinkers amongst its number such as Thomas of Aquino, Voltaire and Augustine of Hippo. Over time and after several sessions with the group Kardec had gathered enough information to convince him of life after death and he was compelled to spread the teachings of 'The Spirit of Truth'. He 'codified' their comments and listed them as answers to questions and this is the content of 'The Spirits Book'. The subjects that Kardec discusses, via 'The Spirit of Truth', laid down the foundations for the Spiritist philosophy and all of the concepts that would become, and still are, key to the movement's thinking have their genesis in the book. The belief that there is one Supreme Being, God, who created everything in the universe, is postulated. According to the text the Devil does not exist and Jesus is a messenger of God. Although the book does not refer to Jesus as the son of God and no mention is made of the 'immaculate conception' he is considered God's perfect messenger and his teachings are to be adhered to. Reincarnation and the survival of the soul after death are vital beliefs and it is stated that it is through reincarnation that lessons are learnt that can be taken into the next life and that every life moves the soul closer to perfection. According to the book man is made up of three separate elements; the body, the spirit and the spiritual body. One's spirit also predates the matter of the universe and will outlast it. After the publication of 'The Spirits Book' Kardec's Spiritist doctrine began to take root, firstly in France from where it spread throughout Europe and found its way to North America. Most significant, however, was the reaction to Spiritism in South America. In Brazil the Spiritist movement swept across the nation and it is still one of the country's main religions to this day with millions of Kardec's followers from Brazil visiting his tombstone in Paris every year.

Do miracles really happen? What is the evidence for paranormal phenomena that demonstrate divine power, and what alternative explanations can be offered for such apparently miraculous occurrences? How does the earnest inquirer assess the conflicting evidence and reach a conclusion? These and related questions are answered in this illuminating examination of miracle claims by respected historical, paranormal, and forensic investigator Joe Nickell. Not a critique of religion but rather a careful examination of the evidence relating to specific claims of the miraculous, Looking for a Miracle investigates a panoply of strange events, powers, and objects that are at the center of the controversy between so-called miraculists and confirmed skeptics. Among the phenomena studied are "Miraculous Pictures", like the Shroud of Turin, the Edessan Image, and the Image of Guadalupe; seemingly "Magical Icons", such as weeping, bleeding, and otherwise animated paintings and statues; "Mystical Relics", including "burning handprints", the liquefying blood of St. Januarius, and ostensibly "incorruptible" corpses of saints; "Pentecostal Powers", such as speaking in tongues, the gift of prophecy, taking up serpents, and other powers and immunities; "Faith Healing", including the reported miracle cures at Lourdes and the practices of evangelists, Christian Scientists, and "psychic surgeons"; "Ecstatic Visions", like the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima and Medjugorje; and such "Sanctified Powers" as luminosity, levitation, bilocation, stigmata, inedia (the going without food); and the ability to produce objects out of thin air. Looking for a Miracle is a wide-ranging investigative study of acontroversial topic that has all too often been approached either with excessive credulity or a dismissive attitude. Religious believers and rationalist thinkers alike have much to learn from this revealing examination of the evidence for the miraculous.

Meet Loraine Rees, a respected medium trusted by law enforcement to help solve difficult cases. Coming from a long line of clairvoyants, she has seen spirits ever since she was a child. Her impressive abilities increased after her heart stopped during surgery. Is there LIFE AFTER DEATH? Find out from someone who has been there. Here she shares her gift to bring truth from beyond.

HUMANITY HAS REACHED A DANGEROUS TIPPING POINT of potential self-destruction because our technical and scientific achievements have out distanced our spiritual realization. We must develop a new understanding of who we are, centered on the realization of oneness with all of creation. This realization can only be achieved by the combination and integration of rational logical thinking and mystical internal awareness.

Humanity has now reached the point where the two separate understandings of reality must be combined into a holistic understanding of existence. "Peace Is Oneness" addresses the dangers of accepting the separation that results from our egos, along with the ways that separation can be healed. Both science and evolutionary religion define the same reality. We must awaken from our dream state of separate selves and realize the oneness that is our true self of unconditional love.

Western culture has largely lost most of its connection to myth because of the dominance of material science. We have what the ancient Greeks called logos, but we have lost what they called mythos. This is about to change, as science and religion begin to define reality in the same way. Will it happen quickly enough to save us from our own self destruction? Your individual consciousness is essential in determining the outcome.

Encouraging Words For Women, is a wonderful uplifting and encouraging book for women. Also an excellent resource and motivational guide. Women young and old, will find this book to be inspirational and thought provoking.

The Hundredth Monkey takes its title from philosopher Ron Amundson's expose of the "Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon," a claim about collective consciousness. Forty-three essays by thirty-nine authors, including Isaac Asmov, Martin Gardner, Carl Sagan, Ray Hyman, Paul Kurtz, and James Randi, examine aspects of paranormal and fringe-science beliefs from an authoritative, scientific point of view. The penetrating and entertaining essays, many with timely postscripts, are grouped into nine categories: - Understanding Human Need - Examining Popular Claims - Encouraging Critical Thinking - Medical Controversies - Evaluating the Anomalous Experience - Astrology - Considering Parapsychology - Crashed Saucer Claims - Controversies Within Science Scientists and scholars discuss the burden of skepticism and the delicate balance between a creative openness to new ideas and the relentless scrutiny of new claims. A classic source book for scientifically responsible explanations of controversies, hoaxes, bizarre mysteries, and popular cultural myths.

Gerald A. Larue examines the scriptural underpinnings of occult and supernaturalistic notions that survive in contemporary society. The book is based on the author's thorough knowledge of the history of ancient Near-Eastern cultures and their mythology.

Is there more to our existence than modern science can measure? For more than a hundred years, parapsychology - the scientific study of paranormal phenomena - has tried to find the answer to this question. Psychologist James E Alcock presents a critical evaluation of parapsychological research and reviews the current status of the evidence.

This book paints a clear picture of what hypnosis is and is not, what it can and cannot accomplish, and how it can be misused and abused. Baker describes its potential for preventing or arresting pain and outlines future directions for the role of suggestion in the clinic and the laboratory. This engrossing, factual book is a definitive study of hypnosis that illuminates this very unique aspect of creative human behaviour.

Are crystals alive? Were the great pyramids of ancient Egypt capped with giant crystals? Do crystals repel fleas and other pests? Can crystals record thoughts and heal human ills? Crystals - the ubiquitous symbol and tool of trade for the growing New Age movement - have had many powers attributed to them, ranging from the physical (improving gas mileage) to the psychic (increasing ESP powers and channeling). This book critically examines the claims of crystal power from a variety of viewpoints: historical, scientific, theoretical and experimental. The book explores the history of crystal use in witchcraft, shamanism and mysticism and the many uses of natural and manufactured crystals in technology.

This book critically examines claims of crystal power from a variety of viewpoints: historical, scientific, theoretical and experimental. The book explores the history of crystal use in witchcraft, shamanism and mysticism and the many uses of natural and manufactured crystals in technology.

No Reason for Goodbyes - Messages from Beyond Life is a compilation of over one hundred instances of messages or contacts from the departed, submitted by the men and women who experienced them, contributors from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and as far away as Australia. There is Colleen who, during the Arlington National Cemetery memorial service for her father, a veteran of World War II, saw him standing tall and erect in the distance for the playing of the Marine Corps Hymn. And Jacki who, as she knelt to pray the Rosary before bedtime, felt a presence beside her and heard the voice of her late father: "Teach me how to say it." And Tyler's sister, Robyn, who'd died in infancy, sending a message during a television show that she liked the new athletic shoes he'd just bought. Incidents such as these leave no doubt of the continuation of life beyond physical death and the assurance that our loved ones remain with us still.

Transcripts and detailed messages from the departed, courtesy of well-known psychic mediums during group and one-on-one readings offer further proof of continued life after death. And from Patti Sinclair, a professional psychic medium, along with Dr. Bhrett McCabe, a licensed clinical psychologist and his mother, Mary Jo McCabe, a professional psychic intuitive, we are given sage advice for those among us who are skeptical or grieving.

No Reason for Goodbyes strongly suggests that we rethink everything we have believed about the finality of death. It confirms that those who have departed from our physical world can and do "reach out and touch," in some cases, quite literally, and that love is indeed eternal. If there was ever a time for a paradigm shift about the way we view death, that time is now.

For centuries both primitive and sophisticated societies have been spellbound by persons who claim to have 'psychic' power. Those who present a case for the existence of extrasensory perception (ESP) - mediums, spiritualists, telepaths, clairvoyants, psychokinetics, and others - insist that their unique abilities stand outside the realm of conventional scientific evaluation; that parapsychology offers new hope for understanding the richness and diversity of the human mind and its relationship to the world. In fact, much has been done in recent years in an attempt to convince the scientific community that such phenomena are legitimate and credible. What challenges do these parapsychological claims pose to science? What support is given for the existence of these phenomena? Have the advocates of ESP established their case? In this revised and updated edition of his powerful volume "ESP and Parapsychology: A Re-evaluation", C.E.M. Hansel, one of the first internationally known scholars to evaluate the evidence for ESP, returns once more to the trenches to reassess, rethink, and reconsider some of the major battlefields of this ongoing debate. Undaunted by persistent claims for newly discovered psychical energies and capacities, Hansel remains dedicated to the view that if ESP is to be scientifically established there must be demonstrable proof in the form of replicable experiments. This fascinating volume recounts the scientific community's efforts to provide, test, and analyze such evidence, while at the same time seeking to expose the confusion, trickery, and deception that has permeated the search for psychic power.