psychomanteum

[lucid dancer]

Wow!  I admire you guys for taking an effort to understand spirituality in such a short amount of time.  It's only been six months since that tragedy. You are both very brave.  I have read a few of those books: Moody, Brown and Edwards.  I know about the psychomanteum, but never tried it.  I have a friend who scryed into a mirror and talked with his grandmother for a half an hour.  However, you need to be completely relaxed and open in order to percieve someone. Also, you would be using you psychic senses, not your physical senses. Good luck!

[koshka]

Thanks.  We weren't all that impressed with material answers anyway.  One feels that one's child has been abducted...by a mystery.  That child is the first priority, and slaps all the former supposed proper priorities silly!  You vaue every soul around you and are steadfast even as being torn by the spiritual numbness all around.

Moody says that just about ANYBODY encountering the psychomanteum has an experience of a high order -- OBEs as well.  A billionaire in Las Vegas has endowed a Chair of Consciousness Studies at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas with DR. MOODY a chair professor.

[lucid dancer]

I admire your attitude Koshka!  Have you tried the technique yet?  You'll definantly experience something if you're dedicated to it.  I think it took my friend thirty to forty minutes before to get results.  I have a scrying mirror here, but I never use it. I get spooked out easily, looking into it in the dark.  I made it myself. You might already know of this since you're reading books (but I'll tell you anyway).  I bought a pretty big picture frame. It can be any size you want. Paint one side of the glass black.  Then put the glass back in it's frame glossy/unpainted side out.  This is a little different, because you can look straight into the mirror without a reflection.

[koshka]

Hi --
I have not tried the set-up yet -- perhaps this weekend when one of our rooms is unoccupied.  We plan to travel in July from Reno to Palo Alto, across the Southwest over to Texas.  I thought to visit a psychmanteum site.  The Academy of Psychic Studies in San Jose has one.  I'm still awaiting a return message from my inquiry.  I called UNLV, the Bigelow Chair of Consciousness Studies on which Dr. Moody served as Chair Professor after the first Chair Professor, Dr. Chales Tart.  They said: "It's closed."  I'm not sure whether Dr. Moody's "Theater" is still active in Alabama.  Is it not good --
or too good?

We have had messages from our son, Austin.  His younger sister has had a number of dreams herself.  I shall certainly post if I encounter anything in such a mirror-gazing experiment.

Alice went through the looking glass...Corinthians I, 13:12 -- "For now we see through a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part ; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood."  

Yes, Moody desribes many forms of reflective gazing.

[Ashfo]

So does the room have to be pitch black? So you can't see the mirror at all?

- Ashfo

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"You are First Cause. You are a portion of the great energy. And you, yourselves are thought manifestations of what you think you are."
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[WalkerInTheWoods]

Such a practice has been in many cultures throughout time. I actually watched a show on this many years ago. I know ancient Rome use to have this rooms. Native Americans would use bowls of water to talk with dead family members. There were many others but I do not recall them now.

I wish you luck! Let us know if you have any success.

[koshka]

Ashfo --

As I understand the psychomanteum is not necessarily pitch black.  A soft, low illumination is usually placed behind the chair.  

The set and setting is important.  Moody (appropriate name) calls it the "theater of the mind" for a reason.  The environment of the opera house or grand, ornate old movie house persuades the boundaries of  imagination to relax.  More is possible than we usually imagine.  Preliminary preparation seems to be important.  Nature.  Antiques.  Art.  Humor.  Cartoons.  Toys.  Afternoon sunlight through breezy shadows.  

What happens looking into the suggested infinite space of a mirror?

[koshka]

We have been out of town for the last two weeks.

I came across this website with precise instructions about building a psychomanteum.  www.manteum.com .

[koshka]

We move closer.  We bought a nice bevel-edged mirror (from Lowe's) which we positioned on a wall lateral to the foot of our bed.  We now have to install a light-blocking drape over our window.

We had a 2-hour telephone reading with Laurie Campbell ( www.lauriecampbell.com ) which illustrated how involved our son's spirit is in remaining in touch with his family and friends.  We are recording MANY signs of rather marvelous ingenuity.  Laurie said that he is "very excited" and not at all alone where he is.

Mark Smith describes the same technique that Laurie does in his book AURAS -- SEE THEM IN 60 SECONDS, a very exuberant book.  It involves gazing at the THIRD EYE of a partner or your mirror reflection.  Do not be dismayed at the changes, but learn to "close down the energy at Laurie's website.  She is a friend of John Edward and the Director of the special project at the University of Arizona documenting the reality of the After Life.

[Blue Light Mystic]

Hello there koshka. What a great surprise it was for me to see a topic on Psychomanteums! How awesome! Thanks for bringing this up here! I also once heard of them on a talk show once. I think that the man's name was Joyce Michael? My mother and I got into trying this a little and I wound up having a few really good sightings from my mirror that I used that my great grandmother use to own several years ago.

Psychomanteums really do work! There's no doubt in my mind! Just like meditating, one can start seeing something in the mirror within 30 or more minutes, that is, if one isn't afraid to see a spirit staring at them from the 'other' side of the mirror. (*smile*) One might even see some other kind of being as well that isn't quite human...I wonder if that's true or not? Never tried that before so I can't really say here...

Just wanted to say thanks again koshka for you bringing psychomanteums up! I believe that they work just like how one enters into a trance state during meditation. Ask to see whoever's on the 'other' side, clear one's mind, sit and be quiet and one may eventually see whoever they've asked for within the mirror.

Blue Light blessings
from Blue Mystic

[koshka]

Blue Light Mystic

Thank you so much for the encouraging words.  As Laurie Campbell told us, there is scant current information about this subject.  Do you know of John Edward?  Laurie said that they have a psychomanteum room with two lounge chairs at the U. or Arizona facilities.  They were all taking turns and Laurie invited John to be next.  He did not want to go in.  "Why?" she asked.  "Go in there with a bunch of dead people?" he exclaimed.  She laughed.  He did go in.

We'll put up a large quilt as a temporary drape.  

Blessings indeed -- we are just beginning to discover the ways all around us.

[Blue Light Mystic]

Hello again koshka. (warm smile) I have no problem offering words of encouragement to others. (smile) I don't know about John Edward, but he sounds quite familar never the less. Thanks for sharing this bit of neat information with me though! That was a funny and humorous joke he had made too!

"...we are just beginning to discover the ways all around us." koshka's quote

Yes, I agree with you on this! This awakening has actually started for the past few years if anything. It sure is nice seeing people are becomeing more and more accepting of things as well as open minded.

Anyway, I was thinking of an experiment in regards to psychomanteums a few who are into them could do tonight. The thought just came to me seemingly from nowhere. What if, one could look into the mirror and ask to see a living person and talk to he/she instead of just a deceased person? Wouldn't that be fascinating?! If we could see and talk to others from afar without having to use electricity? We could ask to see another living person and talk to them by using the psychomanteum? I'd be very intrigued to see if this sort of thing could be experimented with and actually done.... ~

Blue Light blessings
from Blue Mystic

[koshka]

Blue Light --

We're going to be setting aside some time this week to try "the theatre of the mind."  Yes, communication through this means could be very powerful.  To possibly sidestep the thin veil of ego and vanity -- ah.

[koshka]

It seems that we do have some reservations about dedicating a session to the mirror practice.  It would mean so much to us.  I thought of beginning by taking just 15 or 20 minutes a day -- expecting nothing really.

I was reading in a book by Mark Harris called AURAS -- SEE THEM IN ONLY 60 SECONDS.  He includes his experiences with scrying, though he does not call it that.

<< ...We paired off and stared at each other's forehead, or third eye, chakra.  We also stared into a mirror at our own third eye.  Shapes changed, faces distorted, animals or old people appeared.  It was quite disconcerting at first, but having a partner to share in the ordeal helped a lot [we're not fearful].  The face can even vanish if you stare long enough.  We learned how to keep our eyes open for several minutes at a time, never once blinking.  During that time, the face I stared at -- all the while staring just at the forehead -- took on a kaleidoscopic panorama of people both younger and older, foreign, or even alien. >>

[koshka]

Our 21-year-old son died on January 10, 2002.  We are struggling.  It is true that you say to yourself: "If I could only see him again for 5 minutes -- ONE minute."  I bought ASTRAL DYNAMICS immediately.  Besides Bruce's teachings, we have read books by Dannion Brinkley, George Anderson, Sylvia Browne, John Edward, Laurie Campbell....  My wife attended John Edward's lecture event in San Francisco last month and seemed to receive some cameo messages from our son.

One of the books we've come across is REUNION by Dr. Raymond Moody.  He discusses the PSYCHOMANTEUM or "Theatre of the Mind" as a means of experiencing life-changing paranormal encounters.  It is mentioned that OBE experiences are common as well inside the psychomanteum.  This is a quiet, darkened room with a supportive, comfortable chair facing a mirror hung at a level which does not reflect the gazer.  The person mirror gazes.  Apparitions as convicing as any in life often come through.

Has anyone had experience with this?  Other forms of reflection gazing are included by Moody in this phenomenon.