Sunday, 21 March 2010

Take Part in EVP Research

The Furzey Hill Cirlce is currently investigating the EVP phenomenon. As part of their research they have created an on-line survey. This is what they say about their research:

"As part of the research its important to know that our interpretations of voice clips are as accurate as possible. This can be very difficult, when one person may hear something clearly that the second is unable to hear with repeated playing. The only way to determine a common understanding is by asking as many people as possible, to listen to and interpret a clip. Obviously we can not do this for every clip, but we have isolated 8 that illustrate the diversity of the voices.

When you have listened to the clips below and written down an interpretation for each, please click the following link to enter the online submission of your results. If you are unable to understand one or more of the clips, please enter "unknown" in the free text field. You can remain anonymous if you wish and it should only take a few minutes to complete ; VOICE RECORDING RESEARCH

2nd Voice

3rd Voice

4th Voice

5th Voice

6th Voice

7th Voice

8th Voice"

This is a great opportunity to take part in some interesting research.


Wednesday, 17 March 2010

First Afterlife Research Centre Workshop - 12th April 2010

An informal event for members of the Afterlife Research Centre forum and others interested in the ethnographic study of the afterlife. To be held in Lecture Room 2 in the Department of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Bristol.

The flyer, registration form and time-table can be downloaded here:

Flyer - Registration Form & Timetable

Speakers to be announced.

Information concerning events can now be found on the "Events page" of the Transpersonal Anthropology website.

Sunday, 14 March 2010

The Dark Side - Patrick Huyghe

A great article by Patrick Huyghe, editor of the wonderful Anomalist website, has just been added to the "Articles Section" of the Transpersonal Anthropology website. "The Dark Side" is concerned with scientific, specifically psychological and psychiatric, approaches to the study of anomalous experiences and how to deal with and treat experiencers responsibly.

George Borrow and the Corpse-Candle...

I recently stumbled across a description in George Borrow's travelogue "Wild Wales" of an encounter with a corpse-candle. The account has been reproduced in the "Supernatural Narratives" section of the Transpersonal Anthropology website. It is interesting to note the similarity between Borrow's description of the corpse-candle and its motives, in 19th century rural Wales, and Evans-Pritchard's account of disembodied witchcraft substance amongst the Azande in 1920s Sudan.

Monday, 8 March 2010

Anthropology & The Paranormal Talk at the SPR

The audio recording of my lecture at the SPR is now available on the "Audio & Video" page of the Transpersonal Anthropology website.

Saturday, 6 March 2010

Anthropology & The Paranormal Talk at the SPR

My talk at the Society for Psychical Research went really well, and it was wonderful to be able to converse with so many people of a like and supportive mind.

Thanks to everyone who made my visit to London so enjoyable.

The lecture notes and powerpoint presentation for the talk can be found on the "Research" page of the Transpersonal Anthropology website.

Monday, 1 March 2010

Experiencer Accounts & NDEs...

A new short account of the effect of seance attendence on perception of the world, and a description of a family's experiences living in a haunted house have been added to the "Living With the Anomalous" section of the Transpersonal Anthropology website.

There is also a new article up, entitled "Postcards from the Edge", from Will Storr, author of Will Storr Vs. the Supernatural: One Man's Search for the Truth About Ghosts, on the topic of Near-Death Experiences in the "Articles" section.

Friday, 19 February 2010

Call for Papers - 2nd Exploring the Extraordinary Conference at University of York - 24th-25th Sept. 2010

EXPLORING THE EXTRAORDINARY
2nd Conference
University of York, UK
Friday, 24th September – Saturday 25th September, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are delighted to announce a call for papers for our second Exploring the Extraordinary network conference. We would like to invite people to submit papers based on contemporary studies of extraordinary experiences. Some examples of topics may be:

• Individual accounts of extraordinary experiences
• Health, well being and extraordinary experiences
• Belief systems that incorporate extraordinary experiences
• Theoretical discussions of extraordinary experiences, and/or the potential for interdisciplinary perspectives
• Developing suitable methodologies to research extraordinary experiences

This conference will be hosted by the Anomalous Experiences Research Unit (http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/soci/research/aeru.htm), members of which established Exploring the Extraordinary in 2007 at the University of York, with the aim of creating a supportive researcher network that would encourage interdisciplinary links and discussions regarding the study of extraordinary experiences. By ‘extraordinary’ we refer to experiences that are considered by experients to be beyond the mundane, having significant spiritual or life changing connotations. We include experiences that have been called supernatural, paranormal, mystical, transcendental, exceptional, spiritual, and religious, as well as the belief systems such experiences may connect to.

Papers should be intended for an interdisciplinary audience.

Please submit a 300-500 word abstract to Dr Hannah Gilbert (heg104@york.ac.uk) by the 2nd April 2010. Papers should ideally be 20 minutes in length. Please include contact information and a brief biographical note. Accepted papers will be decided upon by a committee, and a decision will be made within one week of the closing date.

Accepted papers will also be invited to submit a full paper for possible publication in a special issue of the Journal for the Society for Psychical Research, which will be guest edited by Dr Madeleine Castro and Dr Hannah Gilbert. If you would like to be considered for inclusion in the special issue of the JSPR then submit a full paper of no more than 6,000 words in APA format (for guidance click here ) including an abstract of 300-500 words, by no later than the 28th May. If you wish to be considered for the conference but not the JSPR special issue then submit just an abstract (no later than the 2nd April) for your presentation. Please note all papers will be subject to anonymous peer review following submission, and acceptance for the conference will not guarantee acceptance for publication.

Timescale:

2nd April 2010: Deadline for abstract submissions
28th May 2010: Deadline for paper submissions
24th -25th September 2010: Exploring the Extraordinary conference

Inquiries can be sent to

Dr Hannah Gilbert,
Anomalous Experiences Research Unit,
Sociology,
University of York,
Heslington, York,
YO10 5DD

heg104@york.ac.uk

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Articles...

A selection of fascinating articles from a variety of writers, including Stanley Krippner, Eric Ouellet, Charles D. Laughlin and David Taylor, are now available in the "Articles" section of the "Transpersonal Anthropology" website.

There are also a number of personal narrative accounts from individuals living with paranormal experiences available in the "Living With the Anomalous" section.

If you would like to submit an article or account of your own anomalous experience then don't hestitate to get in touch via discarnates@googlemail.com.

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Transpersonal Anthropology

I have started work on a new website:

www.paranthropology.weebly.com

It deals with issues relating to transpersonal and paranormal experiences.