Happy Spring everyone– made that much more happy with the upcoming ParaMooc 2024! PF and Anna Damalas and I personally are so excited to once again stand as staunch supporters of this Massive Open Online Course since its inception in 2015. The brainchild of the late Dr. Carlos Alvarado and Dr. Nancy Zingrone it has reached countless students and researchers with valuable information and illumination of concepts and avenues for future research. Natasha Chisdes has long provided administrative support and Bryan Williams, Research Director of the Psychical Research Foundation has taken up in recent years the coordination of presenters who have added their expertise to an ever widening exploration of the psychic world which is rich and complex. I have asked Bryan to once again in his words share the fruit of his labor which we will all greatly benefit by when tuning in to this banquet of information:
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Although the psychic abilities and experiences of adults have received extensive discussion and study within parapsychology, it seems that we still know preciously little about the abilities and experiences of children. As Dr. Sally Rhine Feather and Michael Schmicker observed in their 2005 book “The Gift”:
“The world of childhood is naturally conducive to ESP. Fantasy, imagination, and openness to different ways of knowing are acceptable, and ESP is less likely to be censored. If a child has an ESP experience, he [or she] tends to take it at face value until an adult tells him [or her] otherwise. Parapsychologists suspect that ESP occurs more clearly and strongly in the early years of life, before cognitive and social learning intervene to generate doubt, distrust, and fear.” [1, p. 93]
Indeed, this seems to reflect the very kind of situation faced early on by Parapsychology Foundation founder and noted trance medium Eileen J. Garrett (1893 – 1970), who began having psychic experiences at the age of four [2, Ch. II]. As a way to escape the harsh treatment she received from the strict aunt who was raising her, Mrs. Garrett would often seek refuge in the company of “The Children,” two girls and a boy who befriended her and would serve as her spectral playmates. Although they looked solid and life-like to her, Mrs. Garrett soon noticed that “The Children” were distinct from other living people by having bodies infused with light, and by their ability to guide her to hidden things, such as the secluded places where the first flowers of the season were blooming and the finest berries grew. She also seemed to notice “The Children’s” sense of foreknowledge: “When the puppies came, they were the first to know and when the lambs were born, they hurried me outdoors to visit them” [2, p. 9]. But whenever she told her aunt about them, she was ridiculed and accused of lying.
Later in her childhood, Mrs. Garrett had a crisis apparitional experience involving another aunt of hers:
“I was sitting lazily on the porch at home, turning over the leaves of my school-book when, looking up suddenly, I saw my favorite Aunt Leon approach me. I had only seen her a few times in my life because she lived with her family some twenty miles away. I knew that the aunt I lived with cared for her sister, Leon, very much and had been worried of late about her health. Often I had heard mentioned in the household that Aunt Leon had not been as well as usual. I had not been to visit her for several months, so I was naturally pleased when I saw that she had come to see us like this. I noticed, as I got up to greet her, how very tired she looked and fearing that she was really ill, I reached out to take her hand and help her to walk indoors. I shall always be sure that she said to me, ‘I must go away now and take baby with me.’ I waited to hear no more and fled within the house to fetch my other aunt to help Leon. She looked most astonished as I pulled her out of her chair and told her to come quickly to see Aunt Leon. She hurried outside with me. When we reached the door, I saw that my Aunt Leon was gone. I went into the garden and down the lane in search of her, but she was nowhere to be found.” [2, p. 24]
About a day later, news was received that her Aunt Leon had died from complications of childbirth, along with the baby she had been pregnant with.
How might the psychic experiences & abilities of children be similar to, or even different than, those of adults? And what might researchers, child psychologists, social workers, and parents be able to do to help children who report experiencing psychic phenomena, especially when they happen to be distressing experiences? These will be some of the questions we’ll aim to touch upon during this year’s ParaMOOC, with the theme of “The Psychic Experiences of Children.”
This free online course will take place in the two-week period spanning April 14th to 28th, and will feature presentations given by seven international researchers and scholars who’ve done work related to this theme. Conducted via Zoom, the live course line-up for ParaMOOC 2024 will be as follows:
Medical speech pathologist and clinical psychologist/parapsychologist Jeannie Lagle Dollar will present “A Longitudinal Clinical and Personal Exploration of RSPK Through the Case of Christina Boyer” on Monday, April 15th.
Kirsty Allan, senior research assistant at the University of Central Lancashire and Ph.D. candidate & graduate teaching assistant at the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom, will discuss “Psi and Sensitivity” on Thursday, April 18th.
Licensed child psychologist and clinical parapsychologist Athena Drewes will give a talk on “Children’s Exceptional Experiences: Exploring Anecdotal Cases and Clinical Ways to Work with Children and Families” on Friday, April 19th.
Kate Adams, an academic affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education at Leeds Trinity University in the United Kingdom, will be discussing “Visions in the Night: Children’s ‘Extraordinary’ Dreams” on Monday, April 22nd.
Natalia Lavin, child psychotherapist and Ph.D. student at the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom, will present “Anomalous Experiences in Childhood: The Implications for Therapists” on Wednesday, April 24th.
Sally Ann Drucker, who currently serves as vice-president of the board of directors for the Rhine Research Center in North Carolina, will look at “Children’s Psi: What the Research Tells Us” on Thursday, April 25th.
Jim Matlock, one of the Parapsychology Foundation’s research fellows, will give “An Introduction to Research on Children’s Memories of Previous Lives, and Why Past-Life Memory isn’t Psi” on Saturday, April 27th.
There will be discussion forums in the Zoom on Sunday April 21 and on Sunday the 28th.
Moderation will be overseen by Nancy Zingrone, with support from Bryan Williams of the Psychical Research Foundation and Natasha Chisdes of chizfilm.net.
To register for this event send an email to parapsychologyonline@gmail.com and put “Register” in the subject line and you will be sent a ZOOM link. For more details and commentary from Nancy Zingrone check out her recent post.
We hope you’ll join us again for the ParaMOOC this year.
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References:
[1] Feather, S. R., & Schmicker, M. (2005). The gift: ESP, the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
[2] Garrett, E. J. (1939). My life as a search for the meaning of mediumship. New York: Oquaga Press.