Psychical and Supernormal Phenomena - Their Observation and Experimentation , livre ebook

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369 pages

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Dr. Paul Joire's “Psychical and Supernormal Phenomena” explores purported examples of and experiments proving paranormal phenomena including levitation, lucid dreaming, telepathy, psychokenesis, and more throughout history and from around the world. These uncanny cases will interest those with a penchant for the preternatural, and will provide the reader with a valuable insight into the Victorian obsession with the unexplainable. Contents include: “Psychical Phenomena in General”, “Externalisation of Sensibility”, “Spontaneous Phenomena—Multiple Personality and Abnormal Consciousness—Abnormal Faculties in Hypnotic Subjects”, “Abnormal Dreams”, “Phenomena Observed among the Orientals”, “Phenomena of Lucidity, Motricity, and Projection of the Double Observes in Fakirs or Oriental Sorcerers”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

Sujets

Scrying

Haunted house

Eusapia Palladino

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	08 janvier 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781528767767
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

PSYCHICAL AND SUPERNORMAL PHENOMENA
THEIR OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION
BY
DR. PAUL JOIRE
Professor at the Psycho-Physiological Institute of France
President of the Soci t Universelle d tudes Psychiques
TRANSLATED BY DUDLEY WRIGHT
WITH 22 ILLUSTRATIONS
Copyright 2018 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
PREFACE
T HE thorough study of Hypnotism has drawn attention to phenomena which seem, on the one hand, only to be the continuation of hypnotic phenomena, and, on the other, to be connected with faculties of the human mind hitherto unknown.
These phenomena are, first of all, those of mental suggestion and thought-transmission, which we have studied in our Trait de l Hypnotisme .
In other cases, we have witnessed phenomena of lucidity in certain subjects placed in a condition of deep somnambulism. In studying lucidity more closely we noticed that certain special circumstances, and in particular a methodical training, develop this faculty in a singular manner in those endowed with it.
The investigator is thus led to inquire whether this faculty of lucidity does not sometimes appear spontaneously, in the same way as we witness spontaneous somnambulism in connection with induced somnambulism. He then finds a certain number of cases of telepathy which seem to be closely connected with the instances of lucidity.
After embarking upon the study of telepathy it is not long before we become convinced that the phenomena of this category are very complex.
In fact, while certain instances of telepathy are only the mental perception of a fact that has occurred at a distance, there are others in which this perception is accompanied by an hallucination, and sometimes this hallucination is collective.
At other times, hallucination is no longer a sufficient explanation, because the phenomenon has left permanent traces-the displacement of objects, impressions, objective and undeniable traces that a force accompanied the telepathic vision.
If we wish to transfer these phenomena we have observed to the domain of experiment, we find, among some subjects, in certain of the hypnotic conditions we have described, phenomena of externalisation-externalisation of sensibility and of force.
We have thus brought under our observation the chain which seems to connect hypnotic and psychical phenomena.
On the other hand, in entering upon the study of the whole of psychical phenomena, we easily witness a natural progression from the most simple phenomena up to the most complex.
All these phenomena are connected one with another, in a continuous manner, in such a way that we are convinced that the phenomena are undoubtedly of the same order, in spite of their apparent diversity and complexity in manifestation.
We may take abnormal dreams for our starting-point, dreams with manifestation of lucidity, and premonitory dreams, which lead us to telepathic dreams. We then come to telepathic phenomena with apparitions, telepathic phenomena in a waking state, and to collective telepathic visions.
Without going beyond telepathy, we find some instances where telepathic visions have left objective traces of their existence. We are thus forced to ask ourselves if thought is quite as abstract a phenomenon as we have hitherto believed it to be, and if, in certain instances, it is not capable of creating a durable entity possessing independent force.
We are thus led to examine the experiments made in the photography of thought.
Beginning with phenomena of the same character, brought into the domain of experiment, we find facts similar to those of telepathy in crystal-gazing, and amongst those of crystal-gazing we find some which present the characteristics of lucidity.
Lucidity appears to be a special faculty in certain subjects, and we see that we may search for and experiment with it in the somnambulistic condition.
Lucidity is also shown in other circumstances, and that, without somnambulism having been induced in the subject, but spontaneously exhibited. These facts are connected, by their spontaneity, with the phenomena of lucidity observed by means of crystal-gazing.
We now come to the phenomena of externalisation, which in hypnology we connect with the mediumistic states. The first of these phenomena is that of externalisation of sensibility.
We pass from this to more advanced phenomena-we observe the externalisation of force, movement of objects without contact, raps and various noises; finally, the creation of a form having its own objectivity and capable of developing a special force, although always in relation with that of the medium. Hence the most complex phenomenon of all, viz. Materialisation.
I confess that I do not see why the very existence of an invisible world may not in part depend on the personal response which any of us may make to the religious appeal. God Himself, in short, may draw vital strength and increase of very being from our fidelity. For my own part I do not know what the sweat and blood and tragedy of this life mean, if they mean anything short of this. If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight-as if there were something really wild in the universe which we, with all our idealities and faithlessness, are needed to redeem; and first of all to redeem our own hearts from atheisms and fears. . . .
W ILLIAM J AMES .
CONTENTS
I.
P SYCHICAL P HENOMENA IN G ENERAL
II.
E XTERNALISATION OF S ENSIBILITY
III.
S PONTANEOUS P HENOMENA -M ULTIPLE P ERSONALITY AND A BNORMAL C ONSCIOUSNESS -A BNORMAL F ACULTIES IN H YPNOTIC S UBJECTS
IV.
A BNORMAL D REAMS
V.
P HENOMENA OBSERVED AMONG THE O RIENTALS
VI.
P HENOMENA OF L UCIDITY , M OTRICITY , AND P ROJECTION OF THE D OUBLE OBSERVED IN F AKIRS OR O RIENTAL S ORCERERS
VII.
P OLTERGEIST P HENOMENA
VIII.
H AUNTED H OUSES
IX.
T ELEPATHY
X.
T ELEPATHY ( continued )
XI.
C RYSTAL -G AZING
XII.
C RYSTAL -G AZING ( continued )
XIII.
M ENTAL A UDITION
XIV.
C RYSTAL V ISIONS COMBINED WITH L UCIDITY
XV.
T YPTOLOGY
XVI.
T YPTOLOGY ( continued )
XVII.
A UTOMATIC W RITING AND L UCIDITY
XVIII.
T YPTOLOGY AND L UCIDITY
XIX.
T YPTOLOGY AND L UCIDITY ( continued )
XX.
T YPTOLOGY
XXI.
L UCIDITY
XXII.
L UCIDITY IN S PONTANEOUS S OMNAMBULISM
XXIII.
L UCIDITY IN A S TATE OF L IGHT S OMNAMBULISM A RTIFICIALLY I NDUCED
XXIV.
L UCIDITY IN D EEP S OMNAMBULISM
XXV.
L UCIDITY IN THE F UTURE
XXVI.
P HOTOGRAPHY OF THE I NVISIBLE OR OF T HOUGHT
XXVII.
R EPORTS OF THE L ONDON AND M ILAN C OMMITTEES ON P SYCHICAL P HENOMENA
XXVIII.
P HENOMENA OF M OTRICITY
XXIX.
M OVEMENT OF O BJECTS WITHOUT C ONTACT
XXX.
P HENOMENA OF L EVITATION
XXXI.
L EVITATION P HENOMENA OBSERVED WITH THE M EDIUM D. D. H OME
XXXII.
L EVITATION P HENOMENA WITH E USAPIA P ALADINO
XXXIII.
M ATERIALISATIONS OR P HANTOMS
XXXIV.
M ATERIALISATIONS
XXXV.
S TUDY OF THE M EDIUM S AMBOR
XXXVI.
P ROFESSOR C. R ICHET S O BSERVATIONS AT THE V ILLA C ARMEN
XXXVII.
E XPERIMENTS MADE WITH E USAPIA P ALADINO AT G ENOA BY P ROFESSOR M ORSELLI
XXXVIII.
M ETHOD OF E XPERIMENTATION IN P SYCHICAL P HENOMENA
XXXIX.
M ETHOD OF E XPERIMENTATION -I NDUCED P HENOMENA
XL.
M ETHOD OF E XPERIMENTING
XLI.
A G ENERAL C ONSIDERATION OF P SYCHICAL P HENOMENA
PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA
CHAPTER I
PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA IN GENERAL
C ERTAIN strange phenomena, which occur from time to time, have, by reason of their mysterious appearance the power of forcibly impressing the imagination of the multitude.
The sphere in which they are produced, and the manner in which they are presented, have the effect of adding, often largely, to their importance, and of causing them to undergo singular transformations. The newspapers seize upon these sensational facts with great avidity, and relate them with a profusion of details, more or less correct, but always skilfully arranged, so as to add further to the effect already produced.
Among the people who have come into closer contact with these facts, or have been more or less actively concerned with them, there are always to be found a certain number who purposely add to the scenic effect, whether it be to serve well-defined interests, or whether they are led on in spite of themselves to supplement the truth by mirages produced by their own imagination.
The facts in themselves are sometimes very simple whether they come within the category of those which we observe spontaneously in unhealthy persons, or whether they are of the class of induced hypnotic phenomena. These are, for example, the phenomena of lethargy and catalepsy and hallucinations, which may become more complicated through collective or repeated hallucinations. But such facts only now astonish a small number of persons, who are entirely ignorant of modern scientific discoveries: it is not of them we desire to speak.
There are sometimes even stranger phenomena, more difficult to explain and to ver