PSYCHIC DICTIONARY A-Z

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PSYCHIC DICTIONARY FULL GLOSSARY
Short Definition

A

Absent Healing Psychic Dictionary Psychic Dictionary Index

Healing that takes place when the healer is not in direct contact with the person to be healed.

Absent Sitter Psychic Dictionary Index

A person, not present during a sitting, on whose behalf readings are given. See also Proxy Sitting.

Acupuncture Psychic Dictionary Index

Traditional Chinese medical practice that involves sticking needles into specific locations on the body. An ancient medical procedure that originated in China more than 2000 years ago. It is based on the theoretical concept of balanced Qi (pronounced 'chee') or vital energy that flows throughout the body via certain pathways that are accessed by puncturing the skin with hair-thin needles at particular locations called acupuncture points. Stimulation of acupuncture points is believed to stimulate the brain and spinal cord to release chemicals that change the experience of pain or cause biochemical changes that may stimulate healing and promote general well-being.
See also healing.

Agent Psychic Dictionary Index

(a) Person who attempts to communicate information to another in an ESP experiment. Cf. percipient.

(b) The subject in a psychokinesis experiment.

(c) Person who is the focus of poltergeist activity.

Akashic Records Psychic Dictionary Index

"Memories" of all experiences since the beginning of time, believed by some mystical doctrines to be stored permanently in a spiritual substance (Akasha). Psychic Dictionary Index

The Akashic Records (Akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning "sky", "space" or "aether") are said to be a collection of mystical knowledge that is stored in the aether; i.e. on a non-physical plane of existence. The concept is common in some New Age religious groups. The Akashic Records are said to have existed since the beginning of Creation. Just as we have various specialty libraries (e.g., medical, law), there are said to exist various Akashic Records (e.g., human, animal, plant, mineral, etc). Most writings refer to the Akashic Records in the area of human experience. (Wilkipedia)

 

Alchemy Psychic Dictionary Index

See full article on Alchemy and Alchemists

Alien Abduction Experience Psychic Dictionary Index

Reported experiences of being abducted by alien creatures, often into spacecraft. Abductees often experience lost time and suffer loss of memory. When memories are recovered, often using hypnotic regression, abductees may report that surgical operations were performed on them. See also temporal lobe activity.

Alpha Rhythm Psychic Dictionary Index

Electrical activity in the brain (about 10 cycles per second) associated with a state of mental relaxation. See also EEG.

Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) Psychic Dictionary Index

A term used to refer to any state of consciousness that is different from "normal" states of waking or sleeping. ASCs include hypnosis, trance, ecstasy, psychedelic and meditative experience. ASCs do not necessarily have paranormal features.

Ancestor Worship Psychic Dictionary Index

Religious practices involving the veneration of dead ancestors.

Angels Psychic Dictionary Index

Benevolent spiritual beings who help people in need. See also guardian angel.

Animal Magnetism Psychic Dictionary Index

A term coined by F.A. Mesmer to refer to a putative force or fluid capable of being transmitted from one person to another, producing healing effects. See also Mesmerism.

Animal Mutilation Psychic Dictionary Index

Refers to cases in which animal corpses (often cattle) have been found with bizarre injuries that do not seem to have a normal explanation in terms of illness, accident or action of predators. Cuts and injuries often appear to have been carried out with surgical precision. Typically the corpse is drained of blood. Certain body parts may be absent (e.g., genitals).

Animal Psi Psychic Dictionary Index

Paranormal abilities exhibited by animals. Also known as "Anpsi".

Animism Psychic Dictionary Index

Religious practices based on the belief that all living things and natural objects have their individual spiritual essence or soul.

Announcing Dream Psychic Dictionary Index

A dream believed to announce an individual's rebirth. See also reincarnation.

Anomalous Experience Psychic Dictionary Index

A general term referring to unusual experiences that cannot be explained in terms of current scientific knowledge. Cf. psi.

Anomalous Phenomena Psychic Dictionary Index

Natural phenomena that cannot be explained in terms of current scientific knowledge. See also Fortean phenomena.

Anoxia Psychic Dictionary Index

See cerebral anoxia.

Anpsi Psychic Dictionary Index

See Animal Psi

Apparition Psychic Dictionary Index

A visual appearance (cf. hallucination), often of a person or scene, generally experienced in a waking or hypnagogic / hypnopompic state. See also crisis apparition, ghost, haunting.

Apport Psychic Dictionary Index

A physical object which appears in a way that cannot be explained (seeming to come from nowhere). Apports are often associated with the seance room and physical mediumship. Cf. deport. See also materialization, teleportation.

Artefact Psychic Dictionary Index

In parapsychology, false evidence of paranormal phenomena, due to some extraneous normal influence.

ASC Psychic Dictionary Index

See altered state of consciousness.

Astral Body Psychic Dictionary Index

A term used by occultists, spiritualists and theosophists to refer to a supposed "double" of the person's physical body. The astral body is believed to be separable from the physical body during astral projection (out of body experience) and at death. See also Ka.

Astral Projection Psychic Dictionary Index

A term used by occultists, spiritualists and theosophists for the out of body experience. It is believed to result when the astral body separates from the physical body.

Astrology Psychic Dictionary Index

A theory and practice which attempts to identify the ways in which astronomical events are correlated with events on earth (e.g., with an individual's personality and biography, or with social and political trends). See also Astrology Directory

Atavism Psychic Dictionary Index

Re-emergence of ancestral characteristics; a genetic throwback.

Augury Psychic Dictionary Index

Divination.

Aura Psychic Dictionary Index

A field of energy believed by some to surround living creatures. Certain clairvoyants claim to be able to see the aura (generally as a luminous, coloured halo). See also Kirlian photography.

Automatic Art Psychic Dictionary Index

See automatism.

Automatic Writing Psychic Dictionary Index

The ability to write intelligible messages without conscious control or knowledge of what is being written. See also automatism, dissociation.

Automatism Psychic Dictionary Index

Physical activites (e.g., arm movements, writing, drawing, musical performance) that occur without the automatist's conscious control or knowledge. Also known as motor automatism. See also automatic writing, dissociation.

Autoscopy Psychic Dictionary Index

(a) Seeing one's "double". See also astral body.

(b) Looking back at one's own body from a position outside of the body. See also out of body experience.

B

Ba Psychic Dictionary Index

Ancient Egyptian concept of a person's essence, believed to be be immortal. Cf. Ka. See also Soul.

Banshee Psychic Dictionary Index

In Gaelic belief, a female entity who heralds a death by groaning and screaming.

Bardo Psychic Dictionary Index

In Tibetan Buddhism, an intermediate state of existence, usually referring to the state between life and rebirth.

Basic Technique Psychic Dictionary Index

Term used in card-guessing tests of clairvoyance, in which the top card of the deck is placed to one side after each guess.

Billet Reading Psychic Dictionary Index

Procedure in which a question is secretly written on a piece of paper which is folded or sealed in an envelope, and handed to the psychic who attempts to answer the question. Various trickery can be employed by fraudulent psychics and mentalists.

Bilocation Psychic Dictionary Index

Being (or appearing to be) in two different places at the same time. See also autoscopy.

Biofeedback Psychic Dictionary Index

A general term for techniques that involve giving a person information about their current physiological state (e.g., heart rate, EEG). Biofeedback is used to enable people to control consciously their physiological processes.

Bio-PK Psychic Dictionary Index

Psychokinetic effects on biological processes. See also DMILS.

Black Art Psychic Dictionary Index

Conjuring technique of concealing objects using black covers against a black background. Also used by fraudulent mediums.

Black Magic Psychic Dictionary Index

Magical spells or rituals practiced with the intention of harming others. Cf. white magic .

Blind Psychic Dictionary Index

An experimental control in which subjects are not informed of certain key features of the experiment. Also used to refer to a procedure where a judge is asked to compare targets and responses without knowing which responses were made to which targets. See also double blind.

Blind Matching (BM) Psychic Dictionary Index

An identical procedure to open matching, except that the key cards are unseen by the subject.

Book Test Psychic Dictionary Index

(a) A communication in which the sitter is asked to look at a specific book and page in order to receive a significant message.

(b) An effect in which the psychic or mentalist divines the words written on a particular page of a book.

C

Cabinet Psychic Dictionary Index

A box or curtained enclosure in which a physical medium is secured and from which various phenomena may manifest (e.g., lights, objects moving, instruments played). Certain stage magicians can simulate this procedure with great effect.

Call Psychic Dictionary Index

Response made by a subject in a card-guessing or other ESP test.

Candomble Psychic Dictionary Index

A Brazilian spiritist religion. See also Umbanda, Voodoo.

 

Card Guessing Psychic Dictionary Index

An experimental test for ESP in which subjects guess the identity of a set of cards (e.g., playing cards or Zener cards).

Cartomancy Psychic Dictionary Index

Fortune telling using cards. See also tarot.

Cerebral Anoxia Psychic Dictionary Index

Lack of oxygen to the brain, often causing sensory distortions and hallucinations. Sometimes used to explain features of the near-death experience.

Chance Psychic Dictionary Index

Random, unpredictable influences on events.

Channeling Psychic Dictionary Index

Receiving messages and inspiration from discarnate entities. See also medium. See also Medium Directory entry

Charm Psychic Dictionary Index

A spell or object possessing magic power.

Christian Science Psychic Dictionary Index

A religious healing movement founded by Mary Baker Eddy. Rejects orthodox medical practice.

Cipher Test Psychic Dictionary Index

A coded message left by a person who intends to communicate the cipher after death.

Circle Psychic Dictionary Index

A group of people who hold seances. See also mediumship.

Clairaudience Psychic Dictionary Index

The paranormal obtaining of information by hearing sounds or voices. See also clairvoyance, clairsentience.

Clairsentience Psychic Dictionary Index

An archaic term that refers to the paranormal obtaining of information using faculties other than vision or hearing. Cf. clairaudience, clairvoyance, empathy, intuition.

Clairvoyance Psychic Dictionary Index

A general term that refers to the paranormal obtaining of information about an object or event. In modern usage, this does not necessarily refer to obtaining information visually. Cf. clairaudience, clairsentience, ESP, psi. See Also Clairvoyance Definition

Clairvoyant Psychic Dictionary Index

See clairvoyant medium.

Clairvoyant Medium Psychic Dictionary Index

Or clairvoyant. A person who obtains information paranormally (often by spirit communication) without the need to enter into a trance state. Cf. trance medium.

Closed Deck Psychic Dictionary Index

A set of cards used in a card-guessing test where each card appears a fixed number of times. Statistical analysis of research data using a closed deck differs from statistical analysis of data using an open deck.

Coincidence Psychic Dictionary Index

The occurrence, within a short space of time, of two or more meaningfully related events and without any apparent causal connection between them. Coincidences are sometimes bizarre and extraordinarily improbable. See also synchronicity.

Cold Reading Psychic Dictionary Index

A reading given with no prior knowledge of the sitter. Often a mixture of very general statements which could apply to anyone, together with inferences made from cues presented by the sitter (e.g., physical appearance, clothes, tone of voice, statements made). Cf. hot reading.

Collective Apparition Psychic Dictionary Index

An apparition seen simultaneously by more than one person.

Collective Unconscious Psychic Dictionary Index

Concept put forward by C.G. Jung to refer to a level of unconscious thought and experience shared collectively by humans.

Communication Psychic Dictionary Index

In mediumship, a message purported to be from a discarnate entity.

Communicator Psychic Dictionary Index

A discarnate entity from whom the medium receives messages. See also drop-in communicator.

Confederate Psychic Dictionary Index

A person who secretly provides information to a fraudulent psychic or mentalist.

Conjuring Psychic Dictionary Index

Using trickery to simulate paranormal effects, generally for the purpose of entertainment.

Contact Mind Reading Psychic Dictionary Index

A technique simulating telepathy, in which the "mind reader" (who generally holds a hand or arm) responds to slight muscle movements produced unconsciously by the person whose mind is apparently being read. Also known as muscle reading, Cumberlandism or Hellstromism.

Control Psychic Dictionary Index

(a) In experimental parapsychology a procedure undertaken in order to ensure that the experiment is conducted in a standard fashion and so that results are not unduly influenced by extraneous factors. See also control group, artefact.

(b) In spiritualism, a discarnate entity who communicates with a trance medium and who generally controls the trance state.

Control Group Psychic Dictionary Index

A group of people whose performance is compared with that of experimental subjects. Cf. experimental group.

Corn Circle Psychic Dictionary Index

Circular (or more elaborate) formations found in growing crops, most commonly in Southern Britain. Sometimes they are associated with UFO sightings. Many formations appear to have been intelligently created and to have some symbolic meaning. Despite several "confessions" made by various individuals and groups, the crop circle mystery remains unsolved.

Correlation Psychic Dictionary Index

An association between two or more events or variables.

Correlation Coefficient Psychic Dictionary Index

A mathematical Psychic Dictionary Index of the degree of association between two or more measures.

Cosmic Consciousness Psychic Dictionary Index

A blissful experience in which the person becomes aware of the whole universe as a living being. See also altered state of consciousness, mystical experience.

Coven Psychic Dictionary Index

A group of witches

Crisis Apparition Psychic Dictionary Index

An apparition in which a person is seen within a few hours of an important crisis such as death, accident or sudden illness.

Cross-correspondence Psychic Dictionary Index

(a) Separate items of information, received independently by two or more mediums, which make sense only when pieced together.

(b) THE cross-correspondences is a classic case of highly complex cross-correspondences which continued from 1901 to 1932 among a group of automatists associated with the Society for Psychical Research.

Cryptomnesia Psychic Dictionary Index

Knowledge (acquired in normal ways) that may be revealed without the person remembering its source. Such memories may falsely appear to be paranormal revelations. Sometimes cryptomnesia is used as an explanation for apparently paranormal experiences such as xenoglossy or past-life memories.

Crystal Gazing Psychic Dictionary Index

Staring into a reflecting surface (e.g., mirror, glass, crystal, liquid) in order to obtain paranormal information. Also known as scrying. See also divination.

Cumberlandism Psychic Dictionary Index

See contact mind reading.

Curse Psychic Dictionary Index

Words spoken or written in order to influence others paranormally, causing them harm. See also spell, hex.

D

Daemon (Daimon) Psychic Dictionary Index

A guardian spirit who communicates inspiration and advice. See also guardian angel.

Death Psychic Dictionary Index

Generally understood to be the extinction of an organism's life. Many doctrines assert some form of mental or spiritual survival of physical death. See also deathbed experience, haunting, mediumship, near-death experience, reincarnation.

Deathbed Experience Psychic Dictionary Index

A dying person's awareness of the presence of dead friends or relatives. See also near-death experience.

Decline Effect Psychic Dictionary Index

A decrease in performance on a psi test when the test is repeated. Cf. incline effect.

Deja Experience Psychic Dictionary Index

See deja vu.

Deja Vu Psychic Dictionary Index

A person's feeling that current events have been experienced before.

Delta Psychic Dictionary Index

A term used to refer to any kind of anomalous experience.

Dematerialization Psychic Dictionary Index

The paranormal fading or disappearance of a physical object. See also deport.

Demonic Possession Psychic Dictionary Index

Possession by evil spirits. See also exorcism.

Deport Psychic Dictionary Index

The paranormal movement of objects out of a secure enclosed space. Cf. apport. See also dematerialization, teleportation.

Dice Test Psychic Dictionary Index

Experimental techniques for investigating psychokinesis, in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice.

Direct Voice Psychic Dictionary Index

A voice heard in a seance which does not seem to emanate from any person. The voice may seem to come out of thin air, or from a trumpet used specifically for this purpose. Cf. indirect voice.

Discarnate Entity Psychic Dictionary Index

A spirit or non-material entity. Often used to refer to the personality of a deceased individual. See also channeling, communication, mediumship, possession, survival.

Displacement Psychic Dictionary Index

Responses on a psi test that correspond systematically to targets other than the intended one (e.g., those before or after).

Dissociation Psychic Dictionary Index

Activity performed outside of normal conscious awareness, or mental processes that suggest the existence of separate centres of consciousness.

Divination Psychic Dictionary Index

Practices involving the interpretation of signs or symbols that seek to obtain oracular knowledge of events. Examples of divinatory practices are geomancy, tarot, I Ching, sortilege, and reading tea leaves.

Divining Rod Psychic Dictionary Index

A forked rod (or sometimes a pair of L-shaped rods) used in dowsing.

DMILS Psychic Dictionary Index

"Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems". Psychokinetic influences on physiological processes. See also Bio-PK.

Doppelganger Psychic Dictionary Index

A mirror image or double of a person. See also astral body.

Double Psychic Dictionary Index

A duplicate of one's own body. See also astral body