Karen Frances McCarthy is an Irish author, teacher, and former political journalist. Her doctoral research at the University of Birmingham explored the effects of cultural shifts in consciousness theory, postsecularism, and re-enchantment on contemporary American ghost literature. [1] She is the sister of Irish Olympian Earl McCarthy.
As a journalist, McCarthy began covering US politics for a variety of newspapers, including Irish Examiner . [2] and the Riz Khan Show on Al Jazeera English. [3] In 2007, she was an embedded reporter in Iraq. She was one of the first to write about Sunni Awakening Councils in Anbar Province, Al Qaeda HQ in Baqubah, for The Irish Times.
In 2006, McCarthy wrote and produced Made in America [4] for RTÉ in Ireland, about the challenges and triumphs of the human spirit of four young Irish people who emigrated to the US in the early 1990s on the eve of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that changed the economic and political climate of Ireland. [5] The series was nominated for an Irish Film & Television Academy Award for Best Documentary Series. [6]
In 2010, McCarthy's first book The Other Irish was published by Sterling Publishing Inc. For this work, she was named one of Ireland's top female broadcasters who have had an international impact. [7] The book was supported by Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs as part of the country's Reconciliation and Anti-Sectarian Fund as a cultural outreach project. The announcement of support for these projects was made on 28 November 2012.
Northern Ireland is still a very divided society. We saw the potential for sectarian activity to flare up again this summer, so it's clear that, despite the enormous progress made since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, great challenges remain. We are supporting these projects to help overcome the problem of sectarianism and to promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland as well as strengthening community relations across the island of Ireland. I am grateful to the groups and individuals who carry out this critical work. It remains as important as ever that we support their efforts. [8]
As part of the reconciliation effort, McCarthy travelled throughout Ireland, talking to various Protestant communities, including the Ulster Scots Agency, [9] the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, [10] the Linen Hall Library, [11] and the Monreagh Heritage Centre. [12] It was also supported in the media by Ian Adamson, OBE, [13] and William Humphrey DUP MLA in the Belfast Telegraph . [14] She appeared on RTÉ's History Show with Miles Dungan, NPR with Kathleen Dunn, [15] the BBC's Saturday Morning Radio Show [16] with John Toal. The book was reviewed favourably by the Huffington Post, [17] and by Prof. James Flannery of Emory College for the Irish America Magazine. [18]
In 2011, McCarthy stopped covering politics and began to contribute features articles on spirituality, existential belief systems and philosophy of religion for The Irish Times, [19] Salon, [20] Huffington Post Religion [21] Beliefnet, [22] Belfast Media, [23] and The Irish Voice. [24]
McCarthy worked with Deepak Chopra to produce TV shows based on Chopra's books Alchemy and The Crystal Cave. Martin Sheen as Arthur, Robert Guillaume as Merlin, and Johanna Cassidy as the narrator offered a dramatic reading designed to teach those seeking a deeper meaning in their lives that they may locate wisdom by seeking their "inner wizard."
In 2011, McCarthy had what she has described as an awakening. In 2020, she described the events leading up to this in a memoir Till Death Don't Us Part, which was published by White Crow Books. It is described a true and transformational story of one woman's extraordinary journey from skepticism, through tragedy, into awakening to the knowledge that consciousness is not an emergent property of the brain and continues after brain death. The story recounts McCarthy's change in focus and career path, and how she moved toward Spiritualism and writing about spirituality as a result of these experiences.
It was described by NYU Professor Ernest Rubinstein as "a story that doesn't just save us from our fear of death but also from the vague uneasiness and sense of disconnection that sometimes infect a life." It does this by emphasizing the existential implications of continued existence in this life and how joy and purpose come from having an open mind, an open heart, the courage to heal, and from being willing to embrace and share the compassion offered us from non-physical spaces.
Feature article versions of the story appeared in the British magazine Psychic News [25] and the politically progressive/liberal news magazine Salon. [26]
In the first week of its release, Till Death Don't Us Part was ranked No. 1 New Release in its category on Amazon. [27]
McCarthy appeared in various print media outlets, talking about the book, grief, consciousness, and awakening, including Forbes, [28] The Irish Times, [29] The Irish Voice [30] and Psychic News. [31] Till Death Don't Us Part was featured in the Life After Life [32] blog of Raymond Moody.
She appeared on various radio shows and podcasts, including New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove, [33] New Realities TV with Alan Steinfeld, [34] Seek Reality with Roberta Grimes, [35] Psychic Matters with Ann Theato, [36] and The Conan Doyle Casebook. [37] She also gave lectures at the Edgar Cayce Center of New York [38] and the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre [39] in Scotland.
The book was described by Academy Award® Nominee Juanita Wilson as "A gripping modern love story that transcends all boundaries." Peabody Award winner Alexandra Lipsitz was quoted as saying, "Her experiences made me believe in things I never thought I could believe in." Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author of Unhooked & Byline Bible, wrote "It's a fascinating transformational journey that challenges all our assumptions about death." Author Jennifer Belle wrote, "A news reporter and former diehard skeptic, McCarthy gives us an entertaining, impeccably researched, and brilliantly written page-turner about continuing love after life, that will move, amaze, and provide deep comfort with its glorious, inspiring, and deafening ring of truth." [40]
It also received favorable praise from Tricia J. Robertson, former President of the Society for Psychical Research, Minister David R Bruton MBA, President Spiritualists' National Union & Principal of the Arthur Findlay College, Nancy Eubel, former co-executive director of Association for Research and Enlightenment, and Victor and Wendy Zammit, co-authors of A Lawyer Presents the Evidence for the Afterlife. [41]
After the transformation she experienced in 2010 after the death of her fiancé, the events described in Till Death Don't Us Part, and the revivification of an early childhood paranormal ability, McCarthy became an advocate of the ethical practice and healing potential of mediumship. She underwent years of intensive training at Arthur Findlay College, a school of Spiritualism. She holds three awards, Certificates of Recognition from its governing body, the Spiritualist National Union. [42]
She has a private grief and spiritual mentoring practice based between New York and Dublin. She continues to write about spirituality, bereavement, and metaphysical issues She offers private consultations to clients around the world, and she teaches subjects, including consciousness theory, mysticism, and contemplative writing with The Shift Network, [43] The Arthur Conan Doyle Cantre, [44] the Edgar Cayce Center of New York, One Spirit Learning Alliance, [45] and Humanity's Team. [46]
McCarthy uses 'the immense power of mediumship to inspire and uplift ... and provide comfort in your time of need. She is an advocate for palliative and afterlife education and how we can maintain relationships with those in spirit form in a healthy way." [47] She has been interviewed by the Huffington Post [48] and Forbes [49] and about her work.
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to conduct organised scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models." It does not, however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members assert a variety of beliefs with regard to the nature of the phenomena studied.
Spiritualism is a social religious movement popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, according to which an individual's awareness persists after death and may be contacted by the living. The afterlife, or the "spirit world", is seen by spiritualists not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to interact and evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to the belief that spirits are capable of advising the living on moral and ethical issues and the nature of God. Some spiritualists follow "spirit guides"—specific spirits relied upon for spiritual direction.
A séance or seance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word séance comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French seoir, "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma". In English, however, the word came to be used specifically for a meeting of people who are gathered to receive messages from ghosts or to listen to a spirit medium discourse with or relay messages from spirits. In modern English usage, participants need not be seated while engaged in a séance.
The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain is a British spiritualist organisation. It was established on 10 July 1872.
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spirit channelling, including séance tables, trance, and ouija. The practice is associated with spiritualism and spiritism. A similar New Age practice is known as channeling.
The College of Psychic Studies is a non-profit organisation based in South Kensington, London. It is dedicated to the study of psychic and spiritualist phenomena.
This article provides a selected list of fictional stories in which Spiritualism features as an important plot element. The list omits passing mentions.
William Hope was a pioneer of so-called "spirit photography". Based in Crewe, England, he was a member of the well known spiritualists group, the Crewe Circle. He died in Salford hospital on 8 March 1933.
Arthur Ford was an American psychic, spiritualist medium, clairaudient, and founder of the Spiritual Frontiers Fellowship. He gained national attention when he claimed to have contacted the dead son of Bishop James Pike in 1967 on network TV. In 1928 Ford claimed to have contacted the deceased spirits of Houdini's mother and later in 1929 Harry Houdini himself.
The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States dedicated to parapsychology. It maintains offices and a library, in New York City, which are open to both members and the general public. The society has an open membership, anyone with an interest in psychical research is invited to join. It maintains a website; and publishes the quarterly Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Estelle Roberts was a British Spiritualist medium.
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction.
Charles Bailey (1870–1947) was an Australian apport medium who was exposed as a fraud.
Kathleen Goligher was an Irish spiritualist medium. Goligher was endorsed by engineer William Jackson Crawford who wrote three books about her. She was exposed as a fraud by physicist Edmund Edward Fournier d'Albe in 1921.
George Vale Owen was a clergyman of the Church of England and one of the best-known spiritualists of the early twentieth century.
Agnes Elisabeth Guppy-Volckman was a British spiritualist medium.
Ada Maud Besinnet Roche (1890–1936), also known as Ada Bessinet, was an American spiritualist medium.
William Wortley Baggally, most well known as W. W. Baggally, was a British psychical researcher who investigated spiritualist mediums.
Archibald Campbell Holms (1861–1954) most well known as A. Campbell Holms was a Scottish shipbuilding expert and spiritualist.
John Arthur Hill, best known as J. Arthur Hill, was a British psychical researcher and writer. He is credited with having coined the term out-of-the-body experience in 1918.