Supernormal Phenomena: Distinguishing Serious Research from Commercial Exploitation

This photograph of Eileen Garrett later in her life is from the 1983 book Strange Talents.

After the publication of several autobiographical books, Eileen Garrett (1893-1970) wrote The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy (1950).  She explained that the new book resulted after her peace of mind was disturbed by a "fan letter" from a young lady who realized herself to be psychic after reading the book and was then inspired to purchase a 'dream book.'
 
". . . because my book had thrilled her, why shouldn't any unfounded occult volume—and nothing is more nonsensical than a dream book—do the same thing? . . . I suspect that her every last penny is now being spent to discover that if she dreams of olives she's going to meet a fair-haired stranger . . . She has confused me—and all serious researchers in extra-sensory perception—with the tea-leaf readers, the astrologists, the bearded prophets, the 'reverends' who prey upon a foolish and extremely gullible public—rich and poor alike—to the tune of many millions of dollars a year."
 
Nonetheless, Eileen acknowledged in the new book: "I believe that everyone is slightly psychic, although just how psychic depends on the degree of sensitivity of the person."

 

An early instruction in the book concerns "serious workers and what they represent" —

The study of the operation of the psyche is the basic concern of psychical research, just as it is of psychology or psychiatry; but e. s. p. goes farther in that it embraces the super- or paranormal manifestations of the psyche.  Lest there be any doubt about what I mean by supernormal, I use it simply as a short equivalent for "Not as yet recognized by general scientific opinions," and it is free of all implications that such phenomena are supernatural.

She reflected about her experiences as a medium and psychical researcher.

I became a guinea pig for research, and while suspicious psychologists prodded my brain, scientists evaluated the results obtained from endless and exhausting tests for clairvoyance, and often shook their heads in negation.  There were no crystal balls, no beaded curtains, no incense; my seance chamber was a cold laboratory, my "clients" were hard-bitten, doubting scientists who set traps and fired questions at me for three years, and my fee for services rendered was a series of severe headaches.  But when the investigation was completed, I accepted the fact that I was a genuine sensitive and that any discoveries I might be fortunate enough to make in the realm of the supernormal would be authentic, however minor.


I just wanted to know if it were possible to discover the sum total of Eileen J. Garrett's mind.  Where was the mind?  Was it within or was it external?

The book offers a concise review of what Eileen identified as the array of paraphernalia utilized by modern fortune tellers to take advantage of troubled people motivated by some pressing need or fear: the crystal ball, astrology, numerology, tea-leaf reading, phrenology, tarot cards, palmistry, graphology, gurus and even yoga.

She mentioned one crystal gazer who had found renown: "One of the best in Europe was the late Nell St. John Montague, who was killed in an air raid in London in World War II.  Her skill with the crystal gave her great prestige in European circles."  John Dee (1527-1609) was not mentioned; however, previous blog articles offer some information about his case chronicled in diaries (1, 2, 3, 4).  I am reminded how researchers such as Eileen each have their own unique access and selection of resource materials, which will influence their perspectives and insights into the subjects investigated.

Concerning mediumship, Eileen was worried about unblushing frauds duping unhappy people out of as much money as they possibly could with bogus spirit messages.  She also informed: ". . . I do know that there is genuine physical mediumship."

I have seen Rudi Schneider submit to every known form of control in Harry Price's laboratory in London and still produce amazing results.  The same was true of Stella, who went to sleep under the care of a matron from one of the large hospitals in London.  Both ladies were secured; but the experiment was highly successful.

Here are some of Eileen's comments on "witchcraft and sorcery as it is today" —

In the "most advanced" country in the world, one can still leaf through pulp magazines and discover advertisements for lucky charms, lodestones, amulets, love philtres!


If anyone were to ask my advice on witchcraft, spells and sorcery—and far too many have—I could sum up my whole sermon in two words: "Ignore it!"

One chapter provides a succession of names of philosophers who made an impression on Eileen.  Another chapter offers her perspective of actual "cults and cultists" or "people in search of salvation."  She even quoted from "crank letters" she has received over the years.

Eileen mentioned becoming acquainted with philosopher "showman" Aleister Crowley.  She may or may not have been aware that Crowley with The Book of the Law became a transcriber of transcendental communication.  Another acquaintance was G. R. S. Mead, editor of a Theosophical Society magazine.  Eileen reminisced about Mead:

During my research days in London he always examined the results of my experiments in psychic research.  Never a spiritualist, he was intensely interested in the wider aspects of the subject and its abundant evidence.  He had no time for the theory, but he was intensely interested in the control personalities and their method of functioning.  During my experiments with him, he carefully noted any alleged appearances of H. P. B. . . .

Evangelists also come under general scrutinizing, including Aimee Semple McPherson, leading to some superficial and assumptive commentary about the "I Am" movement without any consideration of the complexity of the transcendental communication chronicled in the books of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Ballard.  One aspect of the case is mentioned: "Ballard himself was a reincarnation of George Washington, Mrs. Ballard of Jeanne d'Arc, and young Donald of Lafayette . . ."

photo from The History of the "I Am" Activity and Saint Germain Foundation (2003): "The Ballards visit the Mount Vernon Exhibition, 1938"

The Ballards in their books described how voices of 'ascended masters' had spoken to them with the couple publishing numerous transcripts.  The expression "beloved" was often found in these transcripts, just as Eileen's 'controls' had referred to her as being "beloved" of them. 

Eileen commented about reincarnation —

I have no quarrel with the subject because I'm not interested in it.  I don't think I've ever had another existence—that I am an "old soul," as reincarnationists like to call it—and even if I have had, I don't honestly believe that it would do me any great good to know about the  former me.  I am I.  Many intelligent people, however, are staunch believers in reincarnation and I respect their opinions.  Only the worst eccentrics are tiresome about the subject . . .

In contrast, the topic of reincarnation and evidence concerning it is included among the articles at this blog (including 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). 

Perhaps the most illuminating chapters of The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy are those concerning "what psychic research really is" (laboratory work in e. s. p.) and "what can be done" (how serious workers can help) in relation to Eileen's own experiences and research in relation to psychic and trance mediumship.

He who resorts to out-of-the-way theories to explain paranormal results may well be no more than denying his own being, as I know to my cost, having been the victim of my own doubts for many years.  My doubts, I hasten to add, did not concern the basic truths from which I came into contact—they were concerned rather with control personalities, their meaning and environment, the reason for their appearance and their action upon my own personality.


The clairvoyant can have an auditory experience at the same time that vision is being projected through his senses, so he strains to catch both experiences, but he not only hears and sees, he experiences the sensations of pain and joy or sorrow as he hastens to act out the drama.


. . . the intellectually curious who persist in following the trail of the mysterious will eventually find that the facts of metaphysics are no more strange than the facts of any other field of science.  My own experiments within the field of metaphysics lead me to believe that the faculty of cognition is a very real one, and is as veridical as historical science, which also rests on human testimony.


At the British College of Psychic Science in London, where I worked on experiments for ten years, I followed an exacting schedule.  I had three or four appointments per day, and I was expected to be punctual.  In fact, it was suggested that I show up fifteen minutes before an appointment in order to get in the right frame of mind by concentration.  I quickly found out that such a period of time would be spent in irrelevant thought.  On my way to an appointment at the college, I was often troubled by doubts as to my ability to produce any results.  I would be faced with someone who might be making his first attempt at exploration into spiritualistic philosophy, and who would usually enter the room with a fixed and awful stare.  That didn't improve my state of mind.  Nevertheless I was expected to get myself into a sleep state as quickly as possible, without even the preliminaries of an introduction.

Under these circumstances, it was difficult to enter into the somnambulistic state, but once I did my faculties would begin to function in the fields of clairvoyance, intuition, and prevision.  The experiment might last from an hour or two or even three, at the end of which I would return to my normal self, refreshed, to meet the fixed glance of the notetaker . . .


I don't believe that there is a family in the world that does not have a legend about a grandmother with "second sight" who "saw" a child drown, a son killed, a baby born.  Of course, these family stories lose nothing in the telling, but even discounting fifty per cent of them, they do indicate that paranormal intelligence exists everywhere and in everyone.

To explain to the reader how her psychic abilities function, Eileen included an excerpt from Adventures in the Supernormal that included the following:

A woman comes to see me.  Her life is being torn to shreds by a long-sustained tension between her hopes, her fears, her growing despair.  "My son George was reported missing months ago," she tells me.  "I have had no further word of him.  He was my only son.  Can you tell me whether he is alive or dead?"  In the present case, in which I am seeking a particular man named "George," I know in my mind that such a person exists somewhere in the universe, dead or alive, for a woman who claims to be his mother has declared his reality.  In my clairvoyant picture, a man stands out prominently, as though my attention were volitionally centered on him.  This is George, the man I am seeking.  I see every detail of his person, from his bare feet to his unshaved face and his unkempt head.  I am able to assure her who sits beside me that her son is alive.  If she asks me how I know, I say I have "seen" him.  And if she is too distraught to understand that I have truly seen her son, I describe him, with emphasis on some personal peculiarity which she, his mother, can recognize.


My perception of George and his environment was instantaneous and complete.  It occurred in a stream of being which is not conditioned by our conceptions of time and space.  Upon the mother's entrance into my office, I caught an equally vivid impression of her disturbed state, long before the usual greetings could be exchanged at conventional and rational levels.  There is another difference here.  While I may forget the mother with whom I had contact, I will never forget the clairvoyant circumstances surrounding the son.  The full perfection of its original clarity will always be preserved.

An example is presented in relation to how a psychic or medium can accomplish something prophetic.

Quite recently I was autographing a book which somebody had requested.  Halfway through the signature, my conscious mind was arrested for a moment.  I finished the signature, however, and then perceived that I had inscribed it for February, although it was still January.  I let it stand, and thought no more about it.  The recipient of the book was intrigued, however, and telephoned to know if there was any particular reason for drawing his attention to February.  Then I had a peculiar clairvoyant impression that certain factors were beginning to work in February which might change the course of his life.  Had I examined the lapse of consciousness at the time that it happened, I would undoubtedly have seen just what those factors would be.

Eileen concluded about "serious psychic workers":

It is true that we're far less scintillating that the street corner swami who will "reveal all" at a modest price; it is true that we will most usually refer the disturbed and ailing to psychiatrists and physicians.  But when we help, we help with care and sincerity, out of kindness rather than avarice.


. . . remember that we are heading toward a new world of knowledge—the like of which has never been known—a new age.  Today, in our humdrum laboratories, we stand on the very brink of a discovery so vital, so important, so exciting as to make the "tall dark stranger" seem the joke he really is.

Some previous articles about 'trance mediumship' and 'channeling' include "Some Recordings of Channeling", "Trance Communication and D. D. Home" and "The Ray Brown/'Paul' Trance Healer Case".