WHKeith said:Speaking here as a Wiccan writing a book on quantum physics. . . .
We've long assumed a correlation between the verifiable and measureable magnetic field generated by the human body and/or the generation of brain waves, and psychic phenomenon such as telepathy, precognition, and miraculous healing. Studies into these effects, however, show that whatever is going on--and something clearly IS going on--it has nothing to do with us sending or receiving electromagnetic waves as though we were living radios.
Two studies come to mind.
First, researchers studying remote viewing, a kind of clairvoyance that allows a person to “see” places far away, found in the ‘80s that images could be mentally transmitted to viewers inside a submarine operating at a depth of 170 meters and at a range of 300 kilometers. The tests were successful, indicating that the signal could not be blocked by water, an excellent shield for electromagnetic radiation. Even ELF—Extremely Low Frequency—waves cannot penetrate over five hundred feet of water. Whatever is being transmitted is somehow going past the shielding, not through it. This seemingly nonsensical state of affairs can be understood if we look at it as a nonlocal phenomenon—an effect predicted in Bell’s Theorem and referred to by Einstein as “spooky action at a distance,” the topic of another thread.
Studies performed at the University of Mexico in 1994 proved beyond doubt the nonlocal interconnectivity between human brains. There, neurophysiologist Jacobo Grinberg-Zylberbaum had test subjects meditate together for twenty minutes, then enter separate special rooms—called faraday chambers—which are screened against all electromagnetic signals. One subject was shown a series of light flashes, and the EEG responses of both subjects' brains recorded.
In about twenty-five percent of the cases, the brain of the other subject showed the same responses at precisely the same times, just as though he, too, had been exposed to the flashing light. The patterns of brainwaves in one individual can be transmitted to the brain of another, apparently without passing through the intervening space.
This seems to suggest that, while our EM and brainwave activity are indeed connected to whatever passes between individuals, what ACTUALLY passes is not EM in nature, but a nonlocal quantum effect.
As for changing aspects of the physical universe, Brian, my belief is that that has nothing to do with EM phenomenon, but with the quantum nature of reality--collapsing probability waves through measurement or observation. Again, this would be nonlocal in nature, and not require the transmission of data or energy in the classical sense.
Johanna said:In my opinion, Ouija boards are silly. Seems like a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon, at best invoking some tricky spirits who want to play jokes on you.
I think it's a bit stupid to assume that you can sit down and contact dead people, or such, who conveniently use the western alphabet and, usually, English. It's naive to then think that whatever you get out of a Ouija board is the truth.
When my grandfather first started to teach me the way of a shaman I clearly remember him telling me that the more I looked the more I would see and that at some point I would have to stop looking or I would lose myself. Now, like most things old shamans say it had more then one meaning. (As a side note, I remember one afternoon swearing that if I ever got older I would not talk in riddles. I have been told in the last couple of years that I do just that at times.)WHKeith said:I agree absolutely that we are subconsciously aware of much more going on around us than we consciously realize. This is one of the foundation facts of witchcraft, in fact. Somehow, our subconscious is picking up thoughts and emotions from other people (telepathy and telempathy), psychic impressions from inanimate objects (psychometry), shadows from the future (skrying and precognition), and even the thoughts of dead people (mediumship), but all such impressions get lost in the jumble of conscious thought and everyday life. Training and meditation helps the witch calm the conscious mind and skim outside impressions off the surface of the subconscious as they rise to view, without trying to interpret or analyze. (That's the tough part!)
ChristRulesEternally said:Do not be fooled by healings and miracles. These are not divine as you suppose, neither are they created in the psyche of mankind - which is another thing mankind doesn't even understand yet he wants to claim authority over it.... Yoh. What foolishness to turn to one who has not created and therefore cannot possibly know anything about the creation, instead of turning to the Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Jehovah God, Emmanuel, Jesus Christ, and teh Holy Spirit of the living God.
Be blessed. In Jesus' name. Blessed and not cursed.
Amen.
Ben, could that same focus be used to clear the path as it were to sense the presence and location of another, even though one can't see or hear them?bgruagach said:Learning to focus your attention is a valuable skill that is often one of the preliminary lessons in magickal arts.
What you did might appear unusual but is actually not unusual for those who have at least some ability to focus their attention.
Keep in mind though that the goal of focussing in the example you gave was (it seems to me anyways) to stop being annoyed by the sound of the rain, right? That brings to mind two possible ways that it was accomplished. Either 1) the rain stopped, or 2) you just stopped noticing the noise, or stopped feeling annoyed by it.
My guess is that it was #2 that actually happened. It's the same thing that we often experience when we get really involved watching something on TV or at a theatre, or when we are reading a really good book. You get so wrapped up in paying attention to it that you don't notice things that are going on right around you.
There is an interesting recent psychology paper that demonstrates how focussed attention allows us to ignore other things -- you can download and read the PDF version of the report here. The researchers have more info, including some videos related to their research, on the web here.
Quahom1 said:Ben, could that same focus be used to clear the path as it were to sense the presence and location of another, even though one can't see or hear them?
v/r
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Then this could explain how some are able to find others, when all standard means are exhausted...bgruagach said:The ability to really focus your attention and intent is one of the main skills used in effective magick. So yes, if you can focus well then you are on the way to being able to achieve all sorts of magickal effects.
http://www.psipog.net/ and http://www.cantrap.net/ are two good websites that discuss the various techniques that are the foundations of effective magick. There are also many good books on the topic, such as Nancy B. Watson's "Practical Solitary Magic," Donald Michael Kraig's "Modern Magick," and Frater UD's new one, "High Magic."