The Old Rennaissance and the New

I was just thinking, while reading the amazon blurb for a book on Spiritualism and its role in early feminism ("Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth Century America" by Ann Braude), about the possibility that mass social change is conduive to paranormal phenomena. A link between the concept of liminality,anti-structure and the paranormal has often been suggested; a major exposition of the issue can be found in George Hansen's "The Trickster and the Paranormal". The rise of spiritualism in the 19th century was coincident with enormous social change: the rise of modern science, the decline of religion, women's rights and so on - by any reckoning an anti-structural scenario. The spiritual phenomena allegedly produced at this time were of an extraordinary variety: full materializations of spirits, levitation, ectoplasmic rods, independent voice, and apports to name just a few. Might it be that these spirit manifestations were so impressive as a result of the seances taking place right in the middle of widespread social flux? If there is a link between intensity of paranormal phenomena and social upheaval, then might the alleged successes of certain mediumship groups (for example the Felix Experimental Group and the Yellow Cloud Circle) in producing materializations be linked to the current state of society? Is our society in a state of change?

The Felix Circle

More of the apparent new rennaissance of physical mediumship.

From what they have been reporting, the Felix circle is one of the most successful physical mediumship circles in operation at the moment.

New Apparent Ectoplasmic Materialization Videos...

Find more videos like this on Physical Mediumship 4U


Are we seeing a new renaissance of physical mediumship?

Talking With The Spirits - Interview...

Here is a short film that I edited together from an interview conducted a week or so ago with Christine Di Nucci, the founder of the Bristol Spirit Lodge; the venue at which I conducted my dissertation fieldwork.

Due to a change of circumstance interviews with mediums and sitters will now likely be in audio format.

More news to come...

Talking With the Spirits: Bristol Spirit Lodge Documentary Film...

I have just commenced work an an ethnographic/documentary style film about the Bristol Spirit Lodge, a centre for the development and promotion of trance and physical mediumship. The film will feature indepth interviews with members of the lodge, including sitters and mediums, in an attempt to expand upon the fieldwork I conducted there for my dissertation earlier in the year. It's primary focus will be on the way in which seance experiences are interpreted and lived with by those who are witness to them.

More news on the film will be made available as the project develops.