Terms
(click on photos to enlarge)Apport – The paranormal transference or appearance of an object from one place to another, or an appearance of an article, during a seance.
Aura – A field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object.
Automatic Spirit Writing – Also called psychography. A spirit takes control of the hand of a medium to write messages, letters, and even entire books. Automatic writing can happen in a trance or waking state. A reduced form of psychography includes Inspirational Writing.
Billet Reading – Reading the energy and information on a piece of paper sealed in an envelope, and answering its question.
Cabinet – A small cloth structure helping to contain the energy and ectoplasm. Medium Victoria’s cloth energy cabinet is about 4 feet square by 7 feet high and is made of natural fibers.
Channeling Mediumship – Channeling allows a medium to communicate with, consult, and directly relay communication from a Spirit being without the medium being taken over, or controlled. A channeling medium retains control and possession of his/her body and mind while in communication with the Spirit Communicator. Channeling is more common than full trance mediumship. A channeling medium may be able to ask questions of the Spirit Communicator on behalf of the client and then repeat the answers to the client.
Direct Voice – This communication involves spirits extracting ectoplasm from a physical medium in order to create a spirit voice-box. This enables the spirits to communicate from a location outside of the medium’s body, often in mid-air.
Discarnate – Having no physical body, having no material body or form. Also called Incorporeal.
Ectoplasm – Also called Plasma. Visible substance drawn from the body of a physical medium and used to produce spirit manifestation. Spirit entities drape this substance over their nonphysical body, enabling them to interact in the physical universe. Normal light disintegrates ectoplasm.
ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) – Reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University psychologist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairaudience, clairvoyance, and precognition. Also referred to as a sixth-sense or intuition.
Guide – Also called Spirit Guide, Joy Guide, Door Keeper, or Gate Keeper. A being in spirit who assist a person’s spiritual journey. They are guardian spirits and guiding influences. Some play specific roles, such as Guardians, Indian Guides, Philosophers, and Teachers. This term also includes Guardian Angels who are benevolent beings.
Incorporeal – Having no physical body, having no material body or form. Also called Discarnate.
Kirilian Photography – A process that records on photographic film the field radiation, or aura, of electricity emitted by an object to which an electric charge has been applied. For Kirilian leaf photo see Aura.
Mental Mediumship – Communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy or an extra sensory perception (ESP). The medium mentally “hears” (clairaudience), “sees” (clairvoyance), and/or feels (clairsentience) messages from spirits. The medium then passes the information on to the message’s recipient.
Near Death Experience (NDE) – Experiences of people after they have been pronounced clinically dead or have been very close to death. A person near death finds himself outside his body and aware of it. Typical features of the NDE are out of body (OBE), a life review, travel, a tunnel experience, light, coming to a boundary (marking death), seeing dead friends and relatives, experiencing a loving or divine presence, and making a choice (or being told) to return. Very occasionally NDEs can be frightening and distressing. NDEs often have profound effects on the person’s later life.
Paranormal – Experiences that lie outside the range of normal experience or scientific explanation. Beyond normal explanation.
Parapsychology – Term coined by J.B. Rhine to refer to the experimental and quantitative study of paranormal phenomena. Now generally used instead of “psychical research” to refer to all scientific investigation of the paranormal.
Physical Mediumship – Perceptible manifestations such as loud raps and noises, voices, materialized objects, apports, materialized spirit bodies or body parts such as hands, automatic writing, and levitation. This is achieved by using energy or ectoplasm released by a physical medium. Most physical mediumship is presented in a completely darkened room or a dimly lit room using a red or blue light.
Plasma – See ectoplasm.
Psychography – Also called Automatic Spirit Writing. A spirit takes control of the hand of a medium to write messages, letters, and even entire books. Automatic writing can happen in a trance or waking state. A reduced form of psychography includes Inspirational Writing.
Psychokinesis – See Telekinesis.
Seance – A gathering for the purpose of to communicating with those in spirit. The word means session or sitting.
Spirit Control – A Spirit Communicator, also called a being in Spirit or discarnate Spirit, who uses the physical and mental processes of a trance medium in order to communicate. Bartholomew (also called Jordan by medium Victoria) is Victoria’s primary Spirit Control.
Telekinesis – Literally “distant movement.” Also called psychokinesis, it is the direct influence of only the mind to move solid matter.
Trance Mediumship – A medium is taken over or possessed by a being in Spirit, typically called a Spirit Control. The Spirit Control moves and talks using the body of the medium while the medium remains unconscious and unaware. The controlled medium may speak using the vocabulary and speech patterns of the Spirit Control and may even sing, dance or act differently than normal. Upon gaining consciousness, the trance medium is generally unaware of the communications that took place while he/she was in the trance state.
Transfiguration – A veil of ectoplasm is placed over a physical medium’s face and then molded into the shape of a spirit entity.
Trumpet – A horn-shaped speaking tube that magnifies the voices of spirit beings to audible range. Trumpets come in varying sizes and often have a thin strip of luminous tape applied.