Dictionary

Paranormal Dictionary

Afreet - Spirit demon who rises up like smoke from the spilt blood of murder victims.

Afterlife - The continuation of existence beyond this world.

Agent - (Psychokinetic) a term used to reference the person causing the phenomena.

Agent - (Poltergeist) a term used to represent the person the activity is focused on.

Akashic Records - Extrasensory information that exist in another dimension, containing records with information on all world events. Also referred to as the Universal Memory of Nature.

Alpha Rhythm - Electrical activity in the brain, associated with a state of mental relaxation.

Ambient Temperature - The normal surrounding air temperature.

Amorphous - Without definite shape or form.

Amulet - An object thought to bring good luck to an individual or provide protection by warding off evil.

Anima - The innerself or soul.

Anomalistic Psychology - The study of extraordinary phenomena of behavior and experience, including those which are labeled paranormal.

Anomalous Phenomena - Natural phenomena that cannot be explained in terms of current scientific knowledge.

Apparition - Supernatural manifestation of a deceased animal or human.

Apport - A physical object that mysteriously appears out of nowhere.

Asport - Refers to psychic phenomena that involves the disappearance or transportation of objects. The opposite of apport.

Astral Plane - An Alternate and non-physical dimension of reality that can be visited astral projection or Out of body experiences.

Astral Projection - Becoming aware that your consciousness is separate from your physical body.

Atmospheric Apparition - A term use to describe a residual haunting.

Aura - Energy field or life force thought to surround all forms of life.

Automatism - Theory in which the subconscious communicates with the conscious by use of occult methods such as automatic writing.

Autoscopy - The visual hallucination or image of one's body looking at themselves from a position outside of the body.

Ba - A term used in Ancient Egyptian Mythology to refer to the soul and described as rising out of the body after death in the shape of a falcon with a human head.

Ball Lightning - A rare electrical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms. This is often

reported as a luminous ball that may float in mid air or move at a rapid speed a long a solid object.

Banishing - Ceremony or ritual intended to remove a non-physical spirit or a negative influence..

Banshee - An ancient Irish and Scottish tradition of a female spirit foretelling a tragedy or death. They are said to emit a sound similar to a mournful crying.

Benevolent - Not evil or harmful to man.

Bilocation - Being in two separate locations at the same time.

Black Magic - The use of supernatural and psychic power for evil ends.

Bogey - Also known as the bogeyman, is thought to be an evil spirit that loves to cause trouble.

Book Of The Dead - Text from the ancient Egyptian funeral literature consisting of charms, hymns, spells, and formulas designed to help the soul pass through the dangerous parts of the underworld.

Brain Waves - Electrical impulses the brain constantly releases, measured in hertz or cycles/vibrations per second.

*Beta - (Shortest and fastest waves.)

13 - 28 hz.

active, awake, and conscious.

*Alpha

7.5 - 13 hz

heightened Awareness, tranquility, meditation, relaxation

*Theta

3.5 - 7.5 hz

deep relaxation, day dreaming

*Delta - (Strongest and slowest)

0.2 - 3.5

deep sleep. unconsciousness

Bugaboo - A trickster or prankster ghost.

Case Study - An in-depth investigation of an individual subject.

Cerebral Anoxia - The medical term for lack of oxygen flowing to the brain, triggering sensory distortions and hallucinations. Cerebral Anoxia is thought by some in the medical field, to be the cause of phenomena such as, Out of Body Experience, (OBE) and Near Death Experience, (NDE).

Channeling - Process where a medium allows a spirit or entity to use their body for communication.

Chi - Asian term for life force.

Circumambulism - Cerimonial walking around a person or an object to secure protection.

Clairaudience - Clear Hearing is the ability to hear voices or sounds that others can't hear.

Clairvoyance - Clear seeing is the ability to see what others can't see. Subjective clairvoyance is the ability to see images in their mind's eye. Objective clairvoyance is the ability to see the spirit in human form as if he/she is standing in the room.

Cleansing - A ritual used to purify a location and banish malevolent entities and influences through prayer.

Collective Apparition - More than one person sees a spirit apparition at the same time.

Cold Spots - Sudden decrease in ambient temperature thought to be caused by paranormal activity.

Crisis Apparition - A person close to death projects themselves to a loved one or acquaintance around the time of death.

Crucifix - Three dimensional cross with the representation of Jesus' body.

Crypto-zoology - The study of creatures such as Sasquatch, Big Foot, or the Loch Ness Monster.

Cryptomnesia - Subconscious memory of material read in earlier years.

Control - A discarnate entity, thought to communicate through a mediums body and consciousness.

Cult - a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society and under the direction of a charismatic leader.

Curse - A verbal, written, thought, or object designed to do harm to a person or group of people.

Death - Ceasing to exist in a physical body.

Deathbed Vision - Visions of the afterlife, glowing entities of light, religious figures, and apparitions of people who have previously passed, often seen by the dying.

Deity- Holy, divine or sacred immortal being thought to be supernatural or preternatural. Often referred to as God.

Demon - A malevolent entity described as never being human. Sometimes thought to be a fallen angel.

Direct Communication - Direct communication occurs when a ghost or spirit is audible to the human ear without the use of any electronic device.

Doppelganger - Ghostly double of a living person.

Dowsing - A type of divination designed to locate ground water, buried metals, gemstones, oil, grave sites, and ley lines using a scientific apparatus called dowsing rods.

Dyssomnia - Term used for insomnia, hypersomnia, and narcolepsy.

Earthbound Spirit - A spirit that is trapped or has chosen to stay on the earth plane, due to confusion, fear, or attachments to people or material items left behind.

Ectoplasm – The substance left behind after a ghost or spirit has tried to manifest, usually appearing in photographs in nearly straight lines of a thick white mist or smoke.

Elementals – Mythological creatures first appearing in the 16th century. Elementals are connected to the four elements, earth, water, fire, and air.

Gnomes – Earth Elementals

Undines – Water Elementals

Sylphs – Air Elementals

Salamanders – Fire Elementals

Empathy – Being able to experience the thoughts and emotions of another.

Emotional Residue – Emotional residues are energy imprints or residuals recorded into the atmosphere during a traumatic event.

Entity – Term used to represent ghost, spirits, poltergeist, and non human spirits.

Epicenter - Refers to the individual a poltergeist haunting is centered on.

ESP – Extrasensory Perception is often referred to as a sixth sense, gut instinct, or hunch because it is the reception of information that comes from beyond the ordinary five senses.

Exorcism - The religious practice of evicting a demon or negative entity from a person or place thought to be possessed.

Evil - The intention or effect of causing harm or destruction. The opposite of good.

Evil Eye - Ancient belief that certain people can inflict bad luck, misfortune, or death simply with a glance or an intense stare.

Extraterrestrial Life - Life forms that do not originate from earth.

Familiar - Spirit companion, usually in the form of an animal, who aids or attends to the needs of a witch.

Fairies - Thought to be non-human immortal earth spirits with supernatural abilities.

Fays - Archaic English fairies, known as Fays were thought to bring good or bad luck to a person and to possess magical powers with the ability to cast spells.

Focal Person - Person or agent at he center of a poltergeist haunting.

Fear Cage – Feelings of uneasiness, anxiety, paranoia and fear brought on by being in a confined area with very high EMF readings.

Gashadokuro - (Japanese Folklore) Giant skeletons, many times taller than humans, thought to be made up of the bones of people who have starved to death. After midnight the ghost is believed to roam the streets making a ringing noise that sounds in the ears. If the person or people who hear this ringing don't run away, the Ghashadokuru will bite off their heads with their sharp teeth.

Ghost Lights - Phenomena described as a glowing ball or balls of light that defy natural explanation.

Ghost Sickness - A belief that a recently deceased ghost of spirit can cause disease or death to the living.

Ghoul - In Islamic legend a ghoul is a demon that feeds off the flesh of humans.

Goblin - An evil or mischievous creature of the French folklore, often described as hideously disfigured or an elf - like phantom.

Grounding - Term used to describe reconnecting with one's sense of self.

Guardian Spirit - In tribal cultures guardian spirits respresent a personal protective spirit that typically takes on an animal form.

Haint - Synonym for ghost, mainly used in the southern United States.

Hallucination - (Latin) To wander mentally. Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting things that are not real.

Harbinger - A ghost of the future that brings a warning of impending events.

Haunting - The manifestation of strange and unexplainable phenomena thought to be caused by a spirit or ghost.

Higher Self - A part of ourselves thought to act as a bridge between the spiritual, the mental and the physical dimensions of our awareness.

Hot Spot - Locations thought to have prominent paranormal activity.

Hypnagogic Hallucination - A vivid dream-like sensation that is heard, seen or felt near the onset of sleep.

Incantation - Words used in magic to infuse power into spells and charms or to summon help from the spirit world.

Incubus - A male spirit or demon that disturbs the sleep of women, often subjecting them to nightmares or unwanted sexual intercourse.

Infestation – Repeated paranormal phenomena, usually centered around a specific location or person.

Jamais Vu - Something experienced on a number of occasions now feels as if it's being experienced for the first time. The complete opposite of Deju Vu, often associated with certain forms of epilepsy or amnesia.

Ka - Ancient Egyptian term for astral body.

Kinesthetic Sense - The ability to sense body positions and movement of muscles, tendons, and joints.

Knockers - Spirits thought to haunt mines.

Lares - Ancient Roman spirits that acted as protectors and thought to live in households, cities, and regions.

Levitation - The act of raising a person or an object off the ground by supernatural means.

Ley Lines - A straight fault line in the earth's tectonic pull.

Light Trance Medium - A person whom spirits can communicate through without the person having to go into a deep trance state.

Lucid Dreaming - Being aware that you are dreaming. Strongly associated with REM sleep and most dreams occur right before waking up. Lucid dreams are also thought to run in a 60 minute cycle.

Lycanthrope - The human ability to transform into a wolf or to gain wolf-like characteristics. Also used to refer to a mental illness in which a patient believes he or she is, or has transformed into an animal and behaves accordingly. Sometimes this medical illness is referred to as clinical lycanthrope.

Magic - An act where supernatural forces are invoked and made subservient to the will of the practitioner.

Magical Circle - An imaginary line drawn with a pointed finger or consecrated magical tool during a ritual or a ceremony.

Magnetosphere - The magnetic field surrounding the earth.

Materialization- The appearance of solid objects or spirit forms out of thin air.

Matrixing – Matrixing occurs when the human mind interprets something it sees as being a solid object, such as, a smudge on a mirror in a photo that looks like a persons face.

Meditation - The technique of focusing your concentration on a specific object or thought for self-improvement or spiritual growth.

Metaphysics - A field study dedicated to the nature of reality and individuals distance from it.

Mist – Believed to be the form a spirit takes on while trying to manifest.

Moon Madness - Incidents of psychotic behavior, violence, and crime that seem to escalate as the lunar cycle moves toward it's full point.

Narcolepsy - Chronic sleep disorder causing excessive daytime sleepiness.

Nature Spirits - Spirits with supernatural powers, thought to dwell in natural kingdom, typically attached to places, plants, or things, such as mountains, trees and minerals.

Near Death Experience (NDE) - A phenomenon reported by people who have been declared clinically dead by medical experts, which produces an altered state of consciousness where they feel like they are traveling through a tunnel towards a bright light, or they are floating above their body watching medical attempts being made to revive them.

Necromancy – A form of magic used to summon the spirit of a deceased person for the purpose of divination.

Night Terror - A parasomnia disorder characterized by extreme terror.

Nyctophobia - Fear of the dark or the night.

Occultism - Esoteric systems of belief and practice.

Olfactory - Smells or odors, commonly associated with a specific person, area or event.

Omen - A sign or signal that foretells an event. A prophetic sign or phenomena, either good or bad, believed to warn of a future event.

Orbs - Form of energy of unknown origin that can't be seen with the naked eye, but is often picked up through inferred monitors of still cameras.

Orthodox - (Greek) Means "Correctly Believing" or "Correctly Glorifying".

Paranormal - Beyond the normal.

Parasomnia - Term used to describe a wide variety of disruptive sleep related events, sleep-walking, sleep terrors, and nightmares.

Pentagram – Traditional five pointed star often used in occult practices.

Portal - A theoretical doorway of energy where spirits may enter or leave a location.

Possession - A supernatural event in which an entity takes control of a human body, animal, or inanimate object causing noticeable changes to their behavior.

Precognition – Psychic perception of future events.

Prophecy - A divinely inspired vision of future events.

PSY -Aconym for paranormal sensory information used to describe ESP, psychokinesis, and other related abilities.

Psychic Attack - Thought to be a supernatural attack on a human or an animal, which can be done either physically or mentally. Being exhausted, nervous, recovering from illness, stress due to family or work pressures, going through a break-up or divorce, feeling the aftereffects of an argument, taking medication for physical or mental problems, and substance abuse can leave a person open to psychic attack .

Psychokinesis - Having the ability to influence the environment by intention alone. Moving objects with the power of the mind.

Psychokinetic Energy - The hypothetical energy source which fuels psychokinesis and other similar Psi phenomena.

Psychometry - The ability to obtain information about people or events through touching an object.

Puca - Also known as Pooka. A spirit in Irish folklore that is believed to be both helpful and mischievous, often appearing as a black animal, and may favor humans and protect them from evil.

Quantum Theory - The theoretical basis of modern physics that explains the nature and behavior of matter and energy on the atomic and sub atomic level.

Reincarnation - Believed to be the rebirth of the spirit into a new physical body, after death.

Remote Viewing - The ability to see distant or hidden objects, events, and locations beyond the physical eye.

Revenant - An entity that comes back a few times after death.

Ritual - An established or prescribed procedure for a religious rite or ceremony. Any practice that is performed in a set manor.

Ritual Magic - Magical activity involving rites and ceremonies.

Sacred - Considered to be worthy of spiritual devotion.

Sceptic - A person inclined to discount the alleged reality of the paranormal and to challenge parapsychology research methods and conclusions by seeking rational or conventional scientific explanations for anomalous phenomena.

Seance - A meeting in which a medium acts as a go between for a group of people and the spirits of loved ones or other entities with whom they wish to speak with.

Second Sight - Term used to describe the ability to obtain information about a person, place, event, or situation through ESP.

Sensitive - Term used to refer to a psychic, medium, or clairvoyant.

Shadow People – Black humanoid forms usually seen with the peripheral vision. Commonly thought to be evil, some believe they are demons, purposefully summoned through black magic or other occult practices. Other theories include the dark shadow being the essence of people having an out of body experience, interdimensional beings or aliens.

Shapeshifting - When a being has the ability to alter his/her appearance.

Silver Cord - A silver thread that acts as a connecting link between the physical and the astral body.

Sixth Sense - Alternative term for Extrasensory perception. (ESP), and people who possess this ability can often perceive things beyond the five other senses. (sight, hearing taste, smell and touch)

Sleep Apnea - There are three forms of sleep apnea, Central (CSA), Obstructive (OSA), and Complex or Mixed Sleep Apnea.

* Central Sleep Apnea - Basic neurological controls for breathing rate malfunction and fail to give a signal to inhale, causing the individual to miss one of more cycles of breathing. At the worst CSA can cause sudden death or possible seizures.

* Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Loud snoring, restless sleep, and daytime sleepiness.

* Mixed Sleep Apnea - A combination of both central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea.

Sleep Deprivation - The condition of not having enough sleep.

Sleep Paralysis - Being unable to move or talk for a short period of time when falling asleep or waking up.

Smudging - A traditional Native American method of using smoke from burning herbs to purify a space.

Spike - A sudden or unexplainable jump on an electromagnetic field meter.

Spirit Attachment - Form of possession in which a discarnate entity or spirit attaches itself to a human being much like a parasite. Symptoms include lack of energy, loss of interest in normal activities, headaches/migraines, insomnia, depression, hearing voices, memory loss, difficulty focusing or concentrating, and changes in behavior or personality.

Spirit Releasement - Modern term for exorcism of a discarnate entity attached to a person or a place.

Spirit Rescue - Assisting earthbound spirits with the process of crossing over to the spirit world.

Sprite - A small, radiant nature spirit that brings guidance, confidence, honor and security to those who do good deeds.

Soul - The incorporeal essence of a person.

Succubus – Believed to be a demon that inspires lust in men and is capable of physical attacks, which cause injury.

Supernatural - Something that exist or occurs through a means other than any known force in nature or science.

Superstition - Belief in the power of the supernatural to direct one's life.

Synchronicity - A term used by Jung to refer to coincidental events that are meaningful but not causally connected.

Tash - Irish word for ghost that can appear in human or animal form.

Telekinesis – Using the power of the mind to manipulate objects.

Telepathy - Mind to mind communication.

Teleportation - Paranormal transportation of an object from one location to another.

Temporal Lobe Activity - Electrical activity in the temporal lobes of the brain, often associated with strange sensations, time distortions, and hallucinations.

Therianthropy - Human to animal shapeshifter.

Thought Form - Shapes, patterns, or vibrations formed by thoughts and emotions. An apparition produced by the power of the mind.

Time Slips - Moments when the present and the past collide.

Time Travel - The ability to project the soul's consciousness out of the body and into a past or future event.

Transmigration - The belief that souls come back to experience life many times, ascending higher levels of life through insect, animal, and then human forms to obtain perfection. Once perfection is achieved, the soul then reunites with God and becomes a part of him.

Transcendence - A temporary, spontaneous experience in which the life force leaves the physical body to bypass the experience of pain.

UFO - An unusual apparent object or phenomenon in the sky whose cause can not be identified by the observer.

UFOlogy - The collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of UFOs.

Underworld - Term used in mythology to define the afterlife.

Universal Mind - Believed to be the place where spontanious insights and intuition come from.

Vortex - Thought to be an opening or doorway between our world and the spirit world, often referred to as a portal.

Warlock- Male practioner of Witchcraft.

White Noise - A heterogeneous mixture of sound waves extending over a wide frequency range. Used in EVP experiments to see if an entity is able to use the sounds in the ambient environment some how reorganizing them into coherent words.

Witch Doctor - A magical medical practioner who uses spells and potions to cure the sick.

Witchcraft - An ancient art that utilizes the powers of nature and the mind to bring about a desired effect , using both white and black magic.

Witch - Female practioner of Witchcraft.

Xenology - The scientific study of all aspects of ET life, intelligence, and civilization.

X-Ray Vision - The paranormal ability to see into a person's body to diagnose illness and disease.

Yeti - (also referred to as the Abominable Snowman)An ape-like creature thought to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, India and Tibet.

Zarcanor - Believed to be a malevolent entity which attacks people while they are sleeping.