Apparitional Experiences

Church's foundation. 1 The Scriptures are the only documents that bear faithfulness witness to the Word. 2 Therefore, Scripture is the only legitimate norm for Christian theology. Objection 2: Barth argues that the Scriptures are unique because they document God's revelation, whereas the Reformed Confessions are of human origin. 3 Scripture is worthy of total obedience, then, whereas tradition can only garner a lesser respect. 4 Therefore, Scripture is the only legitimate norm for Christian theology. Objection 3: Under the Old Covenant, God's Law was written in Scripture (Ex. 20-23). It was by its doctrinal and ethical faithfulness to this written Law that Israel was judged by God. 5 The New Covenant also contains Scripture revealed by God, and faithfulness to it is faithfulness to God (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Thess. 2:15). Therefore, Scripture is the only legitimate norm for Christian theology. The ultimate norm for Christian theology is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus Christ promised would reveal truth through the Church's teaching authorities. The Church's teaching authorities have discerned the Holy Spirit outside of Scripture. Responsio: The Catholic Church does not accept the exclusivity of Scripture as a norm for Christian theology. 6 Is its openness to extra-scriptural norms heretical? It is important in answering this question to recall that God is truth (Jn. 14:6). Theology is the systematic study of 1

Lewis Spence argues that spontaneous apparitions displaying personality, volition, and rational reactions to human actions are strong evidence of their authenticity as spirits of the dead. He presents several cases, including General Barter’s encounter with a deceased lieutenant, James Durham’s attack by a ghostly figure and dog, and Baron de Gulderstubbé’s visitation by a ghostly man. These examples, along with others, demonstrate apparitions acting with individual agency and responding to their surroundings, suggesting they are not mere hallucinations or automatons.

The author recounts several ghost stories, emphasizing the importance of cases where apparitions demonstrate individual and unpremeditated action. These stories, including the ghost of Christopher Monigk, a deceased apothecary who returned to his work and interacted with others, challenge the notion that ghosts are mere illusions. The author argues that such vivid and purposeful apparitions provide compelling evidence for the existence of living spirits beyond death.

This is the first part of a two-part article that provides in-depth background information and a critical examination of a phenomenon that has importance not only to transpersonal psychology but also to psychology and science more generally-the protracted Marian apparition at Medjugorje. The article presents four perspectives that may advance understanding of what the apparition and related phenomena might mean and the implications that it has for our respective disciplines and areas of interest. Critical realism and parapsychology are addressed in Part I, while aspect psychology and empowered Imagination are treated in Part II, where future work suggested by the proposed models is also presented. The goals of this two-part article are to increase awareness of the Medjugorje apparition and identify alternative ways of interpreting the phenomenon. The apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Madonna or Gospa, as the local Croatian Catholics call her) that is associated with the small Catholic parish of St. James in the remote mountain village of Medjugorje (pronounced meh'-joogor-yeh) in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina of the former Yugoslavia, began on June 25, 1981 and continues to this day. To afford a fuller account and analysis of the phenomenon the article is divided into two parts. Part I presents an outer history of the events tied to the apparition. Background information is provided about the percipients, the apparitional experience, the Messages and ten ''Secrets,'' its sociological impact and scientific studies, and the Roman Catholic Church's official position regarding the phenomenon. Four key questions that frame the present inquiry are identified, judgments about the apparition's validity are discussed, and the ambiguity of the situation is acknowledged. The perspective of critical realism is then presented that addresses the complex psychological and philosophical issues posed by the apparition. Critical realism is defined and distinguished from other interpretations, inner and outer order of events are differentiated, and the problem of literalizing symbolic experience is discussed. The issue of the extent to which different forms of religious experience are intrinsic or unnecessary to basic transcendent reality is examined. An argument is made for moving beyond the perennialism/constructivism debate to a framework of participatory spiritualism and noetic pluralism. The implications of this move for understanding the nature of basic reality are described. Finally, a parapsychological perspective is presented that draws upon studies of other types of apparitions to place the Medjugorje phenomenon in the context of scientific literature. The Marian apparition's classification and resemblance to secular apparitions of the living and the dead, its evidential aspects and collectively-perceived nature, and quasiphysical features are examined. Two parapsychological theories (psi-mediated

Abstract: Psychometry describes a type of anomalous cognition which permits a psychic to experience such impressions using a physical object. A number of psychics have gained a reputation as psychic detectives using such things as photographs, a town map, or a piece of clothing. ...

The Virgin Mary, whom a certain Catholicism seems to have put to one side, now "returns" through the ecclesial Movements and new Communities. This was a re-discovery also for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a current of grace which spread widely among more than a hundred and twenty million Roman Catholics.

For some time now, the media have been talking about "intraecclesial sects" or "intra-Catholic sects." This reproach is intended to hit a series of movements and communities, which have been born in recent decades. Whereas before many of these new groups were labeled "conservative" or "fundamentalist", now there is an attempt to isolate them as "intra-ecclesial sects" (1). It warns against them as well as against classical sects or so-called "youth religions", which compromise people's mental health and treat them inhumanely. Many of the faithful know that there have always been, and still are, sectarian separations from Christianity. For many Christians, however, it is surprising that there are "sects" even within the Church, although their respective groups have obtained ecclesial recognition and approval.

at Springfield Summay.-The phenomena traditionally attributed to recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis is shown to be inherently comprised of vague sensory and environmental stimuli. The ambiguous nature of these experiences ~recludes any definite supposition as to their source of origin or whether there is only one causal mechanism. Further, many of the so-called paranormal effects are fully comparable to known psychophysical phenomena. Consequently, it is argued that this hypothesis as an explanacion of poltergeist-like experiences is premature and unjustified. It is pretty clear what poltergeists are all about. You are not dealing with geisu but with the corporeal spirit of the person the incidents happen around. In other words, they seem to be examples of involuntary psychokinesis, or RSPK, recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (Roll, 1977). The person's feeltngs seem to be reflected by the incidents and distance, both observations making sense if the person is the source of the energy. It has been found that lighter objects generally move farther than heavier objects. Taken together with the distance effect, this may suggest that RSPK is the result of an energetic process similar to familiar forms (Roll, 1994, p. 347).

Attempting to suggest a model for studying spiritual theology in the dynamic between God's call and human faith response including the issues "imposed" and "motivated," meanwhile counting Jesus Christ as the center in this model in pursuit of personal and spiritual perfection. This model may enable the faithful to easily and deeply study the Bible, hagiography, and spiritual readings in order to review oneself in response to God’s call.

at Springtield Sz,rnmaty.-Houran and Lange's psychological model of haunting phenomena predicts that contextual variables alone are sufficient to induce poltergeist-like perceptions. 22 subjects individually visited five areas of a performance theater and were asked to notice the environment. 11 subjects in an informed condition were instructed that the location was haunted, while 11 in the control condition were told that the building was simply under renovation. Subjects' perceptions in both condtions were recorded via Green, et al.'s 1992 experiential questionnaire which contains 10 subscales related ro psychological and physiological perceptions. Analysis yielded significantly more intense perceptual experiences on nine of the ten subscales in the informed condition, indicating that demand characteristics alone can stimulate paranormaltype experiences.

Research suggests a "Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S)" defined by recurrent and systematic perceptions of anomalous subjective and objective anomalies. Such signs or symptoms are traditionally attributed to "spirits and the supernatural," but these themes are hypothesised to morph to "surveillance and stalking" in reports of "group-(or gang) stalking," We tested this premise with a qualiquantitative exercise that mapped group-stalking experiences from a published first-hand account to a Rasch measure of haunttype anomalies. This comparison found significant agreement in the specific "signs or symptoms" of both phenomena. Metapatterns likewise showed clear conceptual similarities between the phenomenology of haunts and group-stalking. Findings are consistent with the idea that both anomalous episodes involve the same, or similar, attentional or perceptual processes and thereby support the viability of the HP-S construct.

The sensus fidei may be the single most misunderstood and abused concept in the post-Vatican II era." 1 Specifically, Winters elaborates, "The sense of the faithful has been conflated with public opinion, repeatedly, and used to undermine Church teaching. It has been used to justify a stance of dissent." 2 Others agree that the term is misused in this way. 3 Indeed, the magisterial tradition is clear that one should not equate the sensus fidei with public opinion, and such misuse is found in the literature. 4 Theologians who stress the importance of the sensus fidei as a locus theologicus and who disagree with Church teaching on controversial issues, typically are careful to qualify their appeals to popular opinion, e.g., they state that popular opinion "may indicate" the sensus fidei.

Raymond Moody, the scholar and storyteller who introduced to us and named-the near-death experience (NDE) two decades ago, has now taken another leap forward in our understanding of the human mind. Moody's pioneering collection of NDE accounts awakened both medical science and popular culture to inexplicable experiences that normal people have spontaneously when they approach death. With his new exploration into mirror gazing, he presents to us, with the help of co-author Paul Perry, equally startling experiences that can be produced reliably in a controlled situation. Humans have always longed for reunions with deceased loved ones, and throughout history we have fulfilled that wish through visions. Most societies entertain, frighten, or inspire themselves with ghost stories, and today up to two-thirds of widows see apparitions of their deceased husbands. The ancient Greeks went so far as to create the institution of the oracle of the dead, or psychomanteum, to facilitate these visions for the masses. Moody identified three visionary techniques that would be consid ered safe and legal today: "pareidolia," as when we see faces in clouds, which rarely produces visions of the departed; "dream incu bation," popular in many cultures, which requires at least drowsi ness; and mirror gazing, which often yields apparitions of the deceased, as well as scenes, dramas, and life reviews. Different re

The idea that some kind of "memory"-like psychic impression relating to a certain person, object, or event from the past can somehow be retained by, or otherwise be closely associated with, a specific place over time - which has been referred to as "place memory" - is one that has been around since the early days of psychical research. But in more recent years, this idea seems to have largely been unrecognized, overlooked, or even disregarded within parapsychology, particularly as a possible contender hypothesis for alternately thinking about some types of veridical haunting apparitions. Why might that be? Perhaps one reason is that the empirical case for seriously considering this idea has not been too clear.

This paper aims to address this issue by reviewing certain parapsychological findings which seem to have some implications for the concept of place memory, as well as for the theory of its possible establishment through psychokinesis as proposed by Pamela Heath (2004, 2005). At the very least, these findings would seem to suggest that place memory should not summarily be taken out of consideration as a working hypothesis, and that more research may be warranted in order to further explore its potential both as a genuine psi-related phenomenon and as a developing theoretical concept for alternately thinking about veridical hauntings.

Originally presented on March 21, 2023, as part of the Parapsychology: Research and Education massively open online course (ParaMOOC 2023) devoted to the theme of "Apparitions, Hauntings, & Poltergeists," which was hosted by the Alvarado-Zingrone Institute for Research and Education (AZIRE). It is meant to be complementary to the ParaMOOC talk "How Mind-Matter Interaction May Play a Role in Place Memory" given by Pamela Rae Heath on March 20, 2023 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b57DhieuVmM).

An investigative workshop entitled 'para-design' (paranormal design-thinking beyond or outside of 'normal' design scenarios) explores new territory for design practices. Through examining the degree to which parapsychological belief influences perception of the designed environment, research brought together the anomalous with product design in order to explore design applications. In this context, the term paranormal refers to the conceptualization of paranormality as a phenomenon that violates the fundamental scientifically founded principles of nature. Specifically, Product Design students investigated paranormal perception. Students explored locations and appraised environmental conditions/unusual experiences. A self-report measure included feelings, experience and perception questions. Following investigation, respondents completed questions assessing belief and perception in each location. Typically, locations contained many classic paranormal settings i.e., cold spots, dark/claustrophobic, damp, drafts/chills etc. Specific high perceptual scores were associated with an increased level of perceived haunting and an increase in paranormal belief. Findings suggest that practice based studies through 'para-design' shapes intention, where paranormal belief influences perception of the designed environment. Fieldtesting generated design proposals to produce paranormal products. These became the centrepiece of an exhibition where interaction with each product revealed how to investigate the anomalous. Specifically, the combination of para-psychology and concept of para-design revealed how design can elicit, engineer and channel perceptive experiences of the paranormal. This research outlines the significance of para-design. Through the translation of subjective and analytical responses, new opportunities for design were investigated that explore personal perceptions to enable the design of tools that facilitate and respond to paranormal phenomena.

BRYAN WILLIAMS 1 , ANNALISA VENTOLA 2 , & MIKE WILSON 3 ... 1University of New Mexico 2Public Parapsychology (http://www.publicparapsychology.org/) 3Psi Society (