Glossary

Afterlife : A continuation of life, in one form, after death.

Angel : A guardian who watches over people

Anti-Christ : Satan.

Apparition : A visual spirit of a spiritual nature

Astral Plane : The level of existence through which spirits of the dead first pass. The level in which an astrally projected spirit travels.

Apport : An object that appears in the presence of a medium of a spiritualist.

Aura : Colourful energy field that surrounds all living things.

Automatic Writing/ Automatic Typing : When a spirit controls a persons hand and causes them to write or type. Often the person will have no recollection of the event.  

Boggart: In English folklore, a poltergeist type hobgoblin that can be helpful but also mischievous.

Beelzebub : One of Satan's chief lieutenants, considered Satan's "left hand man"  

Clairaudience : The ability to hear beyond the normal realms, including messages from spirits.

Clairsentience : Interaction with spirits through the sense of touch

Clairvoyance: The ability to see objects, events and persons that are not visible through normal sight.

Crisis Apparition : An apparition that is often seen around the time of the persons death, or when the person is in danger.  

Devil : An upper level evil spirit working for Lucifer. (Beezelbub, among many)

Doppleganger (or Doubleganger) : An 'instant' deja-vu. Seeing the same person, walk past the same place, twice within seconds is an example. Often regarded as the forewarning of a death.

Dowsing: The art of detecting spirits, water or healing, as well as communicating with spirits, using dowsing rods and/or  a pendulum .  

Ectoplasm : An unknown substance which emanates from the bodies of mediums, correlating to supernatural phenomena.

Entity : A disembodied or preternatural spirit.

EVP : Electronic Voice Patterns. The recording of spiritual voices and sounds.

Exorcism : Generally carried out by priests, the act of expelling a spirit from a site.

Extra Sensory Perception (ESP): Paranormal sensing of sights, sounds and smells.  

Ghost : Ghosts are alleged disembodied spirits of dead persons.

Gremlin: A small, mischievous spirit that was was first reported by Royal Air Force pilots during World War 1.  

Haunt : To visit a place or a person in the form of a ghost, or a place a ghost is said to frequent.  

Levitation : The lifting into the air of a person or other object without natural means.

Lucifer : Satan, leader of the rebellious angels.  

Medium : A person who makes contact with spirits on the astral plane.  
Necromancy : The practice of conjuring evil spirits.  

Occult : The supernatural.

Orb/Orbs : Spheres of light, generally believed to be the beginning of a manifestation

Out of Body Experience : A phenomena where the person feels projected from the their body, sometimes to distant places or non-physical worlds.  

Paranormal (literally 'beyond normal') : Term used to denote any phenomenon which appears to be inexplicable by current scientific theories.

Phantom : A ghost

Planchette : A small heart shaped platform with three legs, two of which have wheels on while the third is a pencil. This is used to allow spirits to write messages.

Poltergeist : A mischievous spirit, generally and incorrectly, associated with violent behaviour.

Possession : When a spirit controls a living body

Psychic : A medium.

Psychokinesis (PK) : The minds ability to affect the 'external' world. Often referred to as mind over matter.  

Rapping : One of the earliest discovered means of spirit communication, rapping can include taps, knocks or thumps.

Reincarnation : The belief that, upon death, the soul is reborn into a new body. Different religions set down different criteria for this.

Retrocognition : See 'Time-Slip'.  

Satan : God's adversary, expelled from heaven for rebelling against God.

Sceptic : Someone who generally believes that that there must be a feasible and natural explanation or paranormal occurances.

Screaming Skulls : In a number of places in England there are skulls which are said to scream if they are taken from the building that they reside in.

Seance : A group of people, usually in a circle, attempting to receive spirit communications or manifestations.

Spirit guide : A personal guide from the spirit world.

Spiritualism : A nineteenth century social and religious movement which supported the belief of survival after death.

Supernatural : An activity which is beyond the realms of nature  

Timeslip : The belief that a window in time can appear to allow a glimpse of past or future events. A possible explanation for dopplegangers  

Undead : A person that is dead but somehow still animated, this includes vampires and zombies.