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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.
Frederic William Henry Myers was a British poet, classicist, philologist, and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research. Myers' work on psychical research and his ideas about a "subliminal self" were influential in his time, but have not been accepted by the scientific community. However, in 2007 a team of cognitive scientists at University of Virginia School of Medicine, led by Edward F. Kelly published a major empirical-theoretical work, Irreducible Mind, citing various empirical evidence that they think broadly corroborates Myer's conception of human self and its survival of bodily death.
Spiritualism is a social religious movement primarily 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 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 providing useful insight regarding moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as "spirit guides"—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance. Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of Spiritualism.
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The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain is a British spiritualist organisation. It was established on 10 July 1872.
Mediumship is the belief in the practice of 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, Spiritism, and some New Age groups.
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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.
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Edward William Cox known as Serjeant Cox (1809–1879) was an English lawyer and legal writer, who was also a successful publisher. He has been described as "the greatest entrepreneur of 'class' journalism".
Herbert Henry Charles Thurston was an English priest of the Roman Catholic Church, a member of the Jesuit order, and a prolific scholar on liturgical, literary, historical, and spiritual matters. In his day, he was regarded as an expert on spiritualism. Today he is remembered chiefly for his extensive contributions to the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Richard Hodgson was an Australian-born psychical researcher who investigated spiritualist mediums such as Eusapia Palladino and Leonora Piper. During his later life, Hodgson became a spiritualist medium himself and believed to be in communication with spirits.
Cleveland Hall was a meeting hall in Cleveland Street, London that was a centre of the British secularist movement between 1861 and 1878, and that was then used for various purposes before becoming a Methodist meeting hall.
George Harris (1809–1890) was an English barrister and judge, known as a biographer and legal writer.
William Wortley Baggally, most well known as W. W. Baggally, was a British psychical researcher who investigated spiritualist mediums.
Thomas Everitt (1823–1905) and Mrs Thomas Everitt (1825–1915) were prominent British spiritualists.
The Oxford Phasmatological Society was an organisation from Oxford that investigated paranormal phenomena. It lasted from 1879-1885. It is considered to have been the first psychical research society.
References
- 1 2 Dyte, D. H. (28 August 1869). "The London Dialectical Society". British Medical Journal. 2 (452): 256. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2260900 .
- ↑ "London Dialectical Society". Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology.
- ↑ D'Arcy, F. (1977). "The Malthusian League and the Resistance to Birth Control Propaganda in Late Victorian Britain". Population Studies. 31 (3): 434. doi:10.2307/2173367. JSTOR 2173367. PMID 11630505.
- ↑ Debate on Mr. Moncure D. Conway's paper "On marriage" April, 1871. London: London Dialectical Society. 1871. hdl:2027/umn.31951002122070b.
- ↑ "Debate on the Philosophy of Secularism". National Reformer . 19: 2–4. 7 January 1872.
- ↑ London Dialectical Society. London: Wertheimer, Lea and Co. 1868–1969.
- 1 2 Byrne, Georgina. (2010). Modern Spiritualism and Church of England, 1850–1939. Boydell Press. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-1-84383-589-9
- ↑ Costa, Thomas. (1984). Charles M. Davies [1828–1910]: The Broad Churchman as Journalist. Victorian Periodicals Review . Vol. 17, No. 1/2, pp. 29–33.
- ↑ Luckhurst, Roger. (2002). The Invention of Telepathy, 1870–1901. Oxford University Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-19-924962-8
- 1 2 3 4 The London Dialectical Society on "Spiritualism". The Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 2. Saturday, 28 October 1871. pp. 528–529
- ↑ Anonymous. (1872). Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society, Together with the Evidence, Oral and Written, and a Selection from the Correspondence. British Journal of Psychiatry 17 (80): 578–579.
- ↑ Edmunds, Simeon. (1966). Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. Aquarian Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0850300130 "The evidential standards of the committee were, alas, deplorably low, many phenomena being pronounced genuine on the unsupported statements of credulous or dishonest witnesses."
- ↑ Whittington-Egan, Molly. (2015). Mrs Guppy Takes a Flight. Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd. p. 16
- ↑ James, William. (1896). Essays in Psychical Research. Harvard University Press. p. 431. ISBN 0-674-26708-7