Category: R

One of several New Thought religious communities developed upon an understanding of popular psychology in the early 20th century. The Religious Science Movement was founded by New Englander Ernest Holmes who was influenced by the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy. He moved to California in 1912 and discovered…

An instrument developed by the Ashkir-Jobson Trianion Guild to help record supposed messages from the dead. The guild was founded by two British researchers, A. J. Ashdown and B. K. Kirby after the death of their colleague, George Jobson. Prior to Jobson’s death, the three had made a compact that the first to die would…

Communications of the spirits of deceased people with the living via electronic tape recordings. Although he was not the first to discover these phenomena, also known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP), Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive popularized and devoted many years of research to them in the 1960s and 1970s. A professor at the University of…

One of the earliest efforts at weather modification by means of sympathetic magic. Early farmers, in an effort to encourage rain for their crops, used a variety of means to encourage rainfall, ranging from sex magic in Babylonian times to human sacrifice among the ancient Maya Indians of Central America. Magical means to induce rain…

A phenomenon similar to water divining and dowsing in which a small pendulum is used instead of a forked twig. The pendulum is made by suspending a weight of any material, for example a finger ring, on a chain or thread. Without any conscious effort on the part of the operator, the weight when suspended…

To classify people on the basis of their skin, their intelligence, or some other quality that is perceived as inborn. This urge is quite ancient. According to Greek philosopher Plato, his teacher Socrates proposed that, in the ideal state, people would be raised from birth to believe that their social system reflected an inborn biological…

Any of several soft-furred, large-eared, rodent like burrowing mammals of the family Leporidae. The ancient Britons may have made use of rabbits for purposes of Divination; it was unlawful to eat them at the time of the Gallic Wars (c. 50 B.C.E.), and in all the British Isles it was a common complaint that witches…

Arctic explorer usually credited with leading the first expedition to reach the North Pole in 1909. Peary began his career in the U.S. Navy in 1881 and early on showed an interest in Arctic exploration. During his first expedition in 1886, Peary and Matthew Henson, his former black servant, traveled over the Greenland ice sheet…

Internationally known writer and publisher of science fiction, sensationalized science fact, and serious science, especially during the heyday of the pulp magazines. Palmer edited such popular magazines as Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, and Flying Saucers. He also founded several popular publications, including fate magazine. A Wisconsin native, Palmer began his professional publishing career with Ziff-…

Leader of the New Age Movement. Montgomery met medium Arthur A. Ford at a 1958 conference on spiritualism and the two became friends. Encouraged by Ford, Montgomery began to practice meditation and soon found that she had the ability to do automatic writing, a form of channeling in which one enters a trancelike or deeply…