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BALANCE
Achieving the harmonious interaction of light and dark, masculine and
feminine, Yin and Yang and creative and receptive energies in mind, body
and emotions is an integral part of meditation, dream work, psychic development
or any creative work on personal and professional growth.
Many situations in life can prevent balance in mind, body and emotions.
You may be thrown off balance by the people around you, by your environment,
by feelings of fear or anger or by psychic information you receive. It
is easy to be overwhelmed by these stimuli, both external and internal,
and psychics believe that one of the most important aspects of psychic
growth is the ability to keep oneself balanced, to stay rooted within
yourself whatever is going on around or inside you.
Visualising a golden light or bubble around you to protect yourself from
distraction, self doubt or misfortune is a technique often used by psychics
to encourage inner balance, as is reconnecting with the earth after psychic
work by going for a walk or taking a drink of water to ground yourself
again in everyday reality.
In a recent series of seminars
this year I talked with members of the group about people or for that
matter situations which drain us both physically, mentally as well as
emotionally. As a psychotherapist early in my training boundaries both
between myself and the person I was working with as well as with aspects
of myself such as feeling the need to parent a person or a situation when
it was not indicated are uppermost in my mind when considering balance.
As our discussion
in the group continued the simple, accessible idea of someone as a psychic
vampire emerged. I invited members of the group to consider times when
a person had acted in this way towards them. I then asked members of the
group to consider why this had happened and to become aware, as in the
classic Bram Stoker novel entitled 'Dracula' how tradition stated that
we had to invite the vampire into our home for them to continue to gain
access. In my life I use my intuition when entering a room or when about
to talk to a person and I can sense how they will drain and pull me out
of balance. If this is what I sense then I disengage so as not to invite
them into my life. Prevention being better and easier than cure?
BEHAVIOURAL MEDICINE Behavioural medicine is an approach to healing
that acknowledges the effects of behaviour on health, and takes this into
account not just the interaction between a human and the environment but
the interaction between body, mind and spirit.
Non western healing systems such as traditional Chinese medicine for centuries
have based their approach on the interaction between mind and body but
it wasn't until the 1960s that western medicine began to acknowledge that
mind and body may not be as separate as it had previously been thought.
Psychiatrist George Solomon observed that feeling unhappy and depressed
increased arthritis symptoms, and in his experiments he found that rats
put under stress died more quickly than those who did not experience the
same levels of stress. But the real break through came in the 1970s with
psychoanalyst Robert Adler, who suspected from experiments with rats that
the nervous system played a part in a body's immune system. He coined
the term 'psychoneuroimmunology' [PNI]. Later research confirmed that
the nervous system does indeed produce reactions that influence brain
function and that there is collaboration between the mind, the brain and
the immune system.
PNI suggests that emotions have a part to play in physical health, and
over the years research has shown that relaxation and positive thinking
techniques can produce changes in wellbeing and can be used in the treatment
of illness. Relaxation, visualisation and imagery have been used with
success to treat a whole range of conditions, from headaches and indigestion
to serious conditions such as depression, heart disease and cancer. Studies
also show that unhappy feelings, in particular suppressed anger, fear
and guilt, low self esteem and lack of loving relationships, can all increase
a persons chances of developing heart disease, cancer and infertility.
Many medical experts now acknowledge the important role relaxation; loving
relationships and positive outlook play in mental and physical health
and wellbeing. Psychic healers have always used the power of the mind
to heal physical and emotional problems, believing that if people feel
better mentally and emotionally they will improve physically.
BILOCATION The appearance of a person or animal in two places at
the same time. What exactly occurs in the phenomenon of bilocation is
uncertain, but one theory is that a person's double or doppelganger is
somehow projected elsewhere and becomes visible to others either in solid
physical form or ghostly form. Generally the double remains silent or
acts strangely. In folklore, biolocation sometimes presages or heralds
the death of the individual seen.
Bilocation allegedly has been experienced and practiced at will by mystics,
ecstatics, saints, monks, holy persons and magical adepts. Several Christian
saints and monks were skilled at bilocation.
Reports of bilocation
were collected in the nineteenth century by the pioneering psychical researcher
Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research
in England. Myers published his reports in 1903 in 'Human Personality
and Its Survival after Bodily Death', but the phenomenon has received
little interest in modern times.
BIOENERGETICS Like acupuncture and acupressure, assumes that existence
of a universal life force that affects health and wellbeing, and a capacity
for self-healing within everyone. It is a form of psychotherapy that involves
a high degree of intuitive awareness on the part of the therapist, and
patients have been known to report psychic experiences, such as episodes
of clairvoyance, as a result.
Bioenergetics works with the physical, emotional and mental patterns of
men and women to reduce emotional stress and help with the challenges
of living. It is a way of understanding personality in terms of the body
and its energetic processes.
According to bioenergetic theory, repressed emotions and desires affect
the body by creating chronic muscle tension and loss of wellbeing and
energy. The theory is based on the premise that there is no fundamental
separation between the mind and the body: that psychological stress reflects
and creates what is happening physically, and physical or somatic events
both reflect and create mental and emotional state. Emotional stress from
many areas - relationships, family crisis, jobs, health - produce tension
in the body. Contractions in the muscular system are often the result
of carrying unresolved emotional tension. These contractions can have
a direct effect on the energy level of the individual, on the capacity
for spontaneous and creative self-expression, and feelings of well-being.
Bioenergetic analysis seeks to bring about the conscious integration of
mind and body. Therefore, the focus is on both the psychological issues
presented and the manifestation of these issues as shown in the individual's
body, energy and movement. Bodywork is combined with psychoanalysis of
dreams and childhood experiences.
BIOFEEDBACK Is the measuring of vital bodily functions that are
normally unconscious, such as breathing, brain wave rhythms, heart rate
and blood pressure, through information provided by electronic devices.
This information is then used to help control these processes. Biofeedback
is a relatively new field, emerging only during the 1960s. Since that
time biofeedback has been used in parapsychology for psi testing.
Originally biofeedback was applied to brain waves. Brain waves were the
first discovered in 1924 by Hans Berger, but it wasn't until the 1950s
that it was thought possible to control them at will - in 1958, researcher
Joe Kamilya was able to help college students control their alpha brain
waves. By the early 1970s the attention of researchers turned to how biofeedback
could help one achieve altered state of consciousness, such as those achieved
in meditation, and how in meditation bodily processes could be changed.
Other experiments concentrated on training subjects to alter involuntary
processes, such as blood pressure.
To monitor physiological processes, biofeedback electrodes, which look
like stickers with wires attached to them, are placed on the clients skin.
The client is then instructed to use relaxation, meditation or visualisation
to bring about the desired response, whether it is muscle relaxation,
a lowered heart rate or lower skin temperature. The biofeedback device
reports progress by a change in the speed of beeps or flashes, or pitch
or quality of the tome. The results of biofeedback are measured in the
following ways:
Skin temperature
Electrical conductivity of the skin, called the galvanic skin
response
Muscle tension, with an electromyography [EMG]
Heart rate, with an electromyography [EMG]
Brain wave activity with an electroencephalograph [EEG]
Biofeedback demonstrates
the connection between mind and body by teaching subjects to use thoughts
and relaxation to control bodily processes, and as a result it is typically
used as an alternative medicine technique to treat health problems ranging
from stress related disorders to raised blood pressure, chronic pain,
addiction and asthma. Biofeedback can also teach people how to increase
their alpha brain waves. The alpha state is not necessary for psychic
experience, but studies have shown it is conducive to it, since subjects
who can slip easily into alpha states tend to score high in psi testing.
BLACK MAGIC
The use of supernatural and psychic power for evil ends, the opposite
of white magic, which is concerned with healing and promoting what is
good.
The term 'black magic' has been used with a wide variety of meanings and
evokes such a variety of reactions that it has become vague and almost
meaningless. It is often synonymous with three other multivocal terms:
witchcraft, the occult and sorcery. The only similarity among its various
uses is that it refers to human efforts to manipulate the supernatural
with negative intent and the selfish use of psychic power for personal
gain. Workers of black magic are thought to have but one goal: to satisfy
their own desires at whatever cost to others.
Magic, good or evil, is universal, with no ethnic or racial association,
and it is unfortunate that not just in the Western civilisation but many
cultures around the world, good and evil have for centuries been denoted
as white and black. White often designates healing, truth, purity, light
and positive energy, while black is darkness, falsehood, evil and negative
energy.
In modern times probably the most popular synonym for black magic is the
occult. Originally the term meant hidden, hence mysterious, and was routinely
used by classical and medieval scholars to refer to 'sciences' such as
astrology, alchemy and kabbalah but from the late nineteenth century when
magical sects such as the Order of the Golden Dawn emerged, the term began
to take on the meaning of evil or satanic. Perhaps best known occultist
and black magic practitioner was Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who dubbed
himself the Antichrist. More than any other person Crowley gave the occult
an evil connotation.
WILLIAM BLAKE
1757-1827 William Blake was a mystic, poet, artist and engraver whose
visionary art was much misunderstood by his contemporaries. He published
his first set of poems when he was 26, and six years later, in 1789, be
printed the 'Songs of Innocence', which he also engraved and illustrated.
In his forties he wrote his more symbolic epic poems, 'Milton and Jerusalem',
and his best-known illustrations of the 'Book of Job and' Dante's 'Divine
Comedy' were created in the last few years of his life.
Blake lived and died in relative poverty. He received little formal schooling,
which makes his visionary interpretations of the Bible and the classics
all the more remarkable. From a young age he experienced visions; when
he was ten he told his father he had seen hosts of angels in a tree, and
when his brother, Robert, died at the age of 20 he saw his soul ascend
heavenward clapping its hands for joy. Throughout his life Blake drew
his strength from the spirit world. He believed deeply in the human imagination
- indeed, that it was the only reality - and he often spoke with apparitions,
angels, devils and spirits that he drew and engraved in his work. His
interest in the spirit world brought him into contact with many of the
visionaries and writers of his time.
MADAME BLAVATSKY
1831-1891 Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, daughter of Russian Aristocrats,
was a key figure in the nineteenth century revival of occult and esoteric
knowledge. A highly intelligent and energetic woman, she helped to spread
Eastern philosophies and mystical ideas to the West and tried to give
the study of the occult a scientific and public face.
Blavatsky became aware of her psychic ability at an early age. She travelled
through the Middle East and Asia learning psychic and spiritual techniques
from various teachers, and she said that it was in Tibet that she met
the secret masters or adepts who sent her to carry their message to the
world.
In 1873 Helena immigrated to New York, where she impressed everyone with
he psychic feats of astral projection, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience
and clairaudience. Her powers were never tested scientifically, but her
interest was always more in the laws and principles of the psychic world
than psychic power itself. In 1874 Helena met and began a life long friendship
with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer and journalist who coveted spiritual
phenomena, and a year later they founded a society 'to collect and diffuse
knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe.' They called this society
the Theosophical Society, from theosophy, a Greek term meaning 'divine
wisdom' or 'wisdom of the gods'.
Traveling to India, Blavatsky and Olcott established themselves at Adyar,
near Madras, and a property they bought there eventually became the world
head quarters of the society. They established a nucleus of the movement
in Britain and founded no fewer than three Theosophical Societies in Paris.
Throughout her life Blavatsky's powers were dismissed as fraud and trickery,
but this do not stop the Theosophical Society from finding a home among
intellectuals and progressive thinkers of her day. The society was born
at a time when spiritualism was popular and Darwin's theory of evolution
was undermining the Church's teachings, so the Society's new thinking
flourished. Many people appreciated the alternative it provided both to
church and dogma and to a materialistic view of the world.
Blavatsky's two most important books are Isis 'Unveiled' and her magnum
opus, 'The Secret Doctrine', published in 1888. She drew her teachings
from many religious traditions: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Platonic thought,
Jewish Kabbalah and the occult and scientific knowledge of her time. Although
they influenced many people, her books are extremely difficult to read.
Nevertheless, her teachings were absorbed by many people and then simplified
into a worldview that was taken up by many later New Age groups. This
worldview includes a belief in seven planes of existence; the gradual
evolution and perfecting of spiritual principles; the existence of nature
spirits [divas] and belief in secret spiritual masters or adepts from
the Himalayas, or from spiritual planes, who guide the evolution of humanity.
All these beliefs are derived from Balvatsky's Theosophy.
BLOCKED ENERGY
Energy is believed to be the basis of all matter, and psychics and alternative
medicine practitioners believe that a field or energy, called an aura,
surrounds your body and a flow of energy [chi] exists within it. If these
energy forces are interrupted for some reason the energy becomes blocked
and will not flow freely. Charkas are an essential part of this energy
flow. If one or more of them is closed, then the energy is blocked at
these points.
It is through that blocked energy which is not cleared can lead to serious
consequences, affecting your mental, physical and spiritual health, and
impeding your spiritual and psychic development.
BODY SCANNING
The ability to look psychically into and around a human body in order
to determine the person's health and state of mind. Body scanning can
be experienced through any of the five senses.
A medical intuitive can psychically read a body and come up with a diagnosis
in actual medical terms. Each intuitive works differently; for example,
some read auras whiles others read energetically the insides [organs,
blood, glands]. Intuited information can then be provide to the clients
medical doctor and/or health care professional for further evaluation
and discussion of possible treatments. Many medical intuitives work with,
or are, medical doctors themselves.
BOOK TEST
The book test is a way for the deceased to communicate with the living
and provide evidence of their survival after death. It was developed in
the early twentieth century by English medium Gladys Osbourne Leonard
and her spirit control, Freda.
In the book test the deceased communicates through a medium and provides
the title of a book not known to the medium. The deceased gives the books
exact location and then specifies a page number, which is supposed to
contain a message from the deceased. Leonard's book tests were very successful,
and almost always the passage selected contained personal messages.
Paranormal factors may well figure in some books tests, but this does
not necessarily imply that there is life after death, as book tests can
be easily explained by the idea that the medium himself or herself is
picking up psychic information. Another problem with book test as proof
of life after death is that on almost any page of a given book some passage
may be interpreted as a message.
BRAIN/BRAIN
WAVES Although it is possible that psychic power is a bridge that
connects your brain to a higher mental or spiritual force, some experts
believe that psychic ability should be treated as another aspect of brain
function. They regard psi as an additional sense that is somehow located
in our brains, and believe that understanding psi can help explain how
we perceive and process information.
One of the most amazing discoveries in medicine was made by Roger Sperry
in the 1960s, who revealed that the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible
for intuition and creativity, makes an equally valuable contribution as
the left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for reason and logic and
previously thought to reign supreme. Opinions differ on what part of the
brain psi function exists in, but many believe that the ability to connect
to intuitive information is housed in the right side of the brain and
that for optimal brain function both the right and left sides of the brain
need to work together.
Some scientists suggest as well that brain waves need to work together.
Brain waves are electrical impulses our brains constantly release, and
they are measured in hertz, or cycles per second. There are four major
stages of brain wave activity, beginning with beta, the shortest and fastest
waves, and moving through to delta, the strongest and slowest.
When the brain is emitting beta waves, the individual is active, awake
and conscious, with his or her eyes open. Alpha brain waves operate just
below waking consciousness, as state that is attained in meditation and
relaxation. The average person can maintain awareness in this state. Typically,
eyes are closed and the body is relaxed, but alpha waves are also produced
during daydreaming with eyes open. The alpha state is not essential to
achieve success in psi testing result, but studies show that it is conducive
to psi. Theta brain waves are achieved during deep relaxation. The average
person cannot maintain awareness in this state, but some mediators claim
that they can. The final state, delta, is one of sleep or unconsciousness.
Some scientists maintain that the blending of all four brain waves create
a brand new brain wave. Some followers of Eastern philosophy propose that
the awakened mind, which occurs when a person is more aware of their spiritual
existence, is a state that combines all four brain waves at once.
BURIAL RITES
The idea of a journey to the afterlife is evident in every culture and
ever age, and it has always been considered a duty of the living to set
the dead on their path to the other world. In primitive times symbols
were carried to rocks and implements and weapons were buried with the
dead to help them in the next life. In Greece a gold coin was buried with
the dead to pay the ferryman to take them across the River of Death. The
Egyptians had the most elaborate burial rituals which lasted for days.
Today the idea of a journey can still be said to exist when we lay flowers
on graves to provide beauty and peace in the hope that the spirit will
find it on the other side.
As well as preparations for the journey to the afterlife, the other important
part of ancient burial rites was to make sure the spirit found peace and
did not return to haunt the living. Some ancient cultures maintained contact
with the dead, keeping artifacts of the deceased so that communication
could take place with the help of a go-between. In many places in the
world ancestral spirits and ancestor worship still play an important role
and burial rites create a doorway from this world to the next.
Generally burial rites in the West have taken on the idea of paying respect
to the person and his or her family and the ritual has become a way to
say good-bye. It is an important time because, according to psychics,
the bereaved need to let go of the spirit so it can go on its way, and
the spirit needs to let go of the bereaved. Burial rites therefore still
represent a bridge between physical life and spiritual life.
ONLINE
DISCUSSION GROUPS
The General
Discussion Group
was created for people who have read, attended courses
or worked with Steven and his colleagues. It is ALSO open to people who
have not attended courses or read written resources and will encourage
them in their personal as well as professional life. To explore and, if
it appeals for you, join the general discussion group
The
Professional Discussion Group
.
Some of Steven and his colleagues have created an online resource to support
them in their work given that due to the nature of their international contacts
the Internet offers an excellent way of easily keeping in contact and up
to date. If you would like to explore and if it relates and will support
your professional work
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