The Parapsychology Foundation has three symbols and one color that are used over and over again in PF materials and on the website. These were all chosen for a particular reason. Read on …
Parapsychology Foundation Spiral
The spiral, as one authority has it, connotes “mystery; complexity; escape from the material to the spiritual; resurrection; immortality; breath; spirit; authority; the mystery of life and death; evolution of the universe; growth; the spirit.” In Celtic mythology, coiled towards the sun, the spiral is a symbol of life energy.
Eileen J. Garrett within her autobiography, Adventures in the Supernormal, which is available from the Foundation’s Helix Press, recounts her childhood memory of the death of some baby ducks: “The little dead bodies were quiet, but a strange movement was occurring all about them. A gray, smoke-like substance rose up from each small form. This nebulous, fluid stuff wove and curled as it rose in winding spiral curves, and I saw it take new shape as it moved out and away from the quiet forms. As I watched the spectacle, fear gave way to amazement.” The experience had a profound impact on her, as did the many times she saw the spiral repeated when she was present at the deaths of others.
At first symbolizing the release of the soul from the body, but as Garrett’s life went on, the spiral took on even deeper meanings. As Garrett herself put it, “my major symbol, the spiral or helix, undergoes many changes but remains true to itself. The spiral,” she declared, “unfolds meanings from the deep unconscious” and “gives illumination.”
We at Parapsychology Foundation feel a very special affinity with our spiral and the many meanings Garrett attributed to it, and we hope that you will too come to understand it as we do.
PF Lyceum Yew Tree
The yew tree branch illustrated in the PF Lyceum logo, the arm of the Foundation which dedicates itself to advancing education in parapsychology, is emblematic of Eileen J. Garrett’s affinity for this coniferous tree of her Irish homeland. To Garrett, the yew tree was a powerful symbol of creativity, and for her, stood as “a bridge of association to original ideas” which is how we expect the Parapsychology Foundation Lyceum will stand.
Helix Press Logo
The Helix Press logo, originally developed by Garrett, is a stylized version of our easily recognizable spiral.
The Significance of the Color Red
Garrett believed that “Color plays an important part of my daily life. … Color is not only connected with abstraction or daydreaming; it makes the objective world clearer, brighter, more distinct, and more beautiful. … Red was the motivating color of my early days. As long as I can recall, I have had a need for red. … Red has a spontaneous, symbolic effect.”
Those who knew Garrett as an individual as well as those who knew her career — comprised as it was of various business enterprises and ultimately the Parapsychology Foundation — are familiar with her affinity for, and use of, the color red. To honor that affinity, by design, PF continues to utilize the color red in all our publications and on our website. We too find we are energized by the use of red as it “paints” a bold pathway into the paranormal.