Welcome to the Psi Encyclopedia! We aspire to provide a comprehensive introduction to academic parapsychology, which studies the range of psychic experiences collectively termed ‘psi’.  The existence of psi phenomena – and the related idea that consciousness is independent of the physical body and so may survive death – is strongly disputed by materialist scientists, yet parapsychologists are convinced they have evidence for these things. The Psi Encyclopedia presents this evidence in nearly 750 signed articles by over 80 authors, many of them senior academics, arranged in categories and subcategories that highlight the major interests of the field. It is sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research.

Mark Boccuzzi created this short video that explains what we are about.

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Key Topics

Ingo Swann, one of the first remote viewers

Remote Viewing

An experimental form of clairvoyance, in which a suitably trained person attempts to visualise the topography of a distant scene.

Tunnel in Near-Death Experience

Near-Death Experiences (Overview)

This article describes anomalous mental events reported by people who have survived a near-fatal accident or illness.

vernon mews

Society for Psychical Research (SPR)

Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.

image of dice being thrown

Psychokinesis Research (Overview)

Research on PK has progressed from early tests with dice to random number generators, field studies, and quantum experiments.

clinical parapsychology 2

Clinical Parapsychology

Therapeutic approach that aims to provide support for people disturbed by anomalous event experiences.

Early reincarnation beliefs in the West are associated with the Greek philosopher Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE

Reincarnation: An Introduction

This introductory article covers beliefs in reincarnation, evidence for reincarnation, and sceptical views of the research.

psychedelic 2

Psychedelics and Psi

A gradual easing of restrictions means that psi research with psychedelics, once prevalent, could soon resume.

Altered States of Consciousness

Altered States of Consciousness and Psi

ASCs have long been known to be associated with psi experiences.

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ESP & Psychokinesis

Extra-sensory perception (ESP) comprises telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. Psychokinesis (PK) is the direct influence on matter by mind alone. Both ESP and PK have been tested in the laboratory and studied in real life situations. Together they constitute psi, in the strict sense of the term. Subcategories group together overviews and general topics in psi studies, tests of ESP and PK, and researcher biographies.

JB Rhine tests a subject with Zener cards at Duke University

Experimental Parapsychology

Overview of efforts to apply experimental methods to the study of psi experiences, from the 1870s to today.

Contemporary illustration. Source: Mary Evans Picture Library

Angelique Cottin

French girl who was the centre of psychokinetic disturbances that made an international sensation.


Coin Apports: The Mexico City Case

A variety of coins appeared without an obvious normal source or cause.

Mind & Body

This category contains articles that treat consciousness in relation to the body. Subcategories focus on consciousness and psi; dreams and psi; and distant healing and psychotherapy. Also included are sitter groups and macro-psychokinesis as well as poltergeists, often assumed to relate to discarnate entities but now known more often to have living agents. A final subgroup is concerned with out-of-body and near-death experiences and events reported on the threshold of death.

Dreams and ESP

Dream ESP Reports (list)

Summaries of reports, surveys and analyses of dream ESP in the SPR archives from 1889 to 1998.

Painting - A Dream of a Girl Before a Sunrise (1833) by Karl Bryullov

Announcing and Departure Dreams

In dreams of these types, spirits of the deceased appear to let the dreamer know they plan to reincarnate.

spiritual healing

Psi Healing Research

This article assesses the quality and outcomes of research into various forms of complementary and alternative medicine.

Survival of Death

Life continued in a spiritual or purely mental form after bodily death is a staple of religious beliefs worldwide, and likely is as old as humanity. The question of evidence for it has been central to the Society for Psychical Research since its founding in 1882. Subcategories focus on hauntings and apparitions and on psychic (also called mental) mediumship.

book cover of Podmore's 'Apparitions and Thought-Transference' (1894) Cambridge Library Collection, 2011

Podmore’s ‘Apparitions and Thought-Transference’

Argues that apparitions may be explained through telepathy.

photograph of Etta Wriedt, direct voice medium

Etta Wriedt

American direct-voice medium (1859–1942) of considerable power, according to observers who attended sittings in the US and Britain.

photograph of Joonas Kokkonen

Postmortem Survival: What Makes an Ideal Case?

Stephen Braude considers what would make the best evidence for survival.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation beliefs are widespread in the world and in recent decades researchers have found what they believe is evidence of them through the study of people (mainly children) who claim to have lived before. Subcategories highlight case studies, past life regression, and biographies of major researchers.


Planned Reincarnations

Planned reincarnation suggests that next-life circumstances can be chosen not just between lives but prior to death.

photograph of Tenzin Sherab Tulku as a child

Reincarnation of Tibetan Lamas in the West

Tibetan lamas reincarnate as Westerners with the intention of spreading Buddhist teachings to other countries.

image of therapist with patient

Regression Therapy

In hypnotherapy, apparent past-life memories are treated less as descriptions of true events than as metaphors that aid in healing.

Researchers & Authors

Here can be found more than 300 biographical profiles of key figures who have been involved in psi research and parapsychology as field investigators, experimentalists, theorists and commentators. The biographies are grouped in subcategories by 30-year age cohorts, highlighting contemporaries.

denys parsons

Denys Parsons

Denys Parsons (1914–1995) was an author, musician and psychical researcher who participated in psi experiments.

Moritz Dechamps

Moritz Dechamps

German researcher investigating quantum effects in the context of micro-psychokinesis experiments.

Reincarnation. Ancient Beliefs and Modern Evidence (1981), by David Christie-Murray

David Christie-Murray

British priest and teacher (1913–2010) who in later life wrote about survival and reincarnation.

Organizations

The oldest organizations devoted to parapsychology were member organizations like the Society for Psychical Research, established in London in 1882. Since JB Rhine founded the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in 1930, there have been university-based units as well. This category comprises both historical and contemporary bodies concerned with research and education in parapsychology.


International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL)

Dedicated to understanding consciousness with a view to improving humanity’s future.

vernon mews

Society for Psychical Research (SPR)

Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.

Robert Bigelow

Robert Bigelow and the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies

Billionaire American businessman whose foundation funds research on post-mortem survival.

Sceptical Views

Sceptics argue that psychics and mediums achieve their effects by trickery, that psychic experience is an illusory effect caused by a combination of brain misperceptions and confirmation bias, and that evidence of psi in laboratory tests can be attributed to poor methodology. This category includes biographies of leading sceptics as well as general articles discussing their allegations.

harry houdini

Harry Houdini

The legendary stage magician (1874–1926) was hostile to Spiritualism and wrote books about his debunking of mediums.

Ray Hyman

Ray Hyman

American psychologist, amateur magician and leading sceptic, co-founder of the Committee for the Scientific Inquiry (CSI).

Trevor Hall

Trevor Hall

English chartered surveyor and amateur conjuror (1910–1991), author of books attacking deceased psychics and researchers.

General Topics

This category contains articles on a variety of topics that do not fit well in any of the main categories, from dowsing to crop circles and other anomalistic phenomena, the Miscellaneous Anomalistic subcategory. Other subcategories list articles on psychics and mystic and on important articles, books and journals in the field of parapsychology.

photograph of Sylvan Muldoon, author of books on 'astral projection'

‘The Phenomena of Astral Projection’ (1951)

Classic study of OBEs, described in the context of the occult idea of 'astral projection'.

Horse Frightened by a Thunderstorm, by Eugène Delacroix (1824)

Boggle Threshold

Term coined by Renée Haynes to refer to the level of tolerance of a discomforting new idea, varying from person to person.

image of house keys on hall table

JOTT: Phenomena of Spatial Discontinuities

The everyday misplacements of objects may sometimes have a non-normal cause.

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