Public Parapsychology Talk (Cols, OH): Environmental Sensitivity & Paranormal Experiences

Public Parapsychology Talk: 

Environmental Sensitivity & Paranormal Experiences

Brandon Masullo

Upstairs Arts Space

4601 N. High St. Suite 200

Columbus, Ohio 43214

May 15, 2017 - 7pm

Do you have long-standing allergies, chronic pain and fatigue, migraines, or sensitivity to lights, sounds, and smells? Do you have more paranormal and apparitional experiences than average?  Environmental Sensitivity – being affected by the surrounding environment to a higher degree than the normal population –  may be a factor in such experiences.  Several parapsychological studies in the past 10 years have provided significant correlations between environmental sensitivity and paranormal experiences.

Brandon Massullo, a clinical therapist and parapsychologist residing in Medina, Ohio will discuss these studies in this Public Parapsychology talk at the Upstairs Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio on May 15th at 7pm. Massullo has been fascinated by paranormal phenomena for over 20 years and has been a participant and featured speaker in numerous paranormal forums and events. He studied psychology and parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and his research has been cited in parapsychological journals, articles, and mainstream books.

Admission to this talk is free. Donations to offset meeting expenses will be gratefully accepted.

The Upstairs Arts Space is located in Beechwold at the corner of Sheffield and High (next to Beechwold Hardware). Look for the stairs behind the stone facade (sorry, no elevator).

RSVP at Facebook

Public Parapsychology Talk (Columbus,Ohio): Neuroscientific Perspectives on Apparitions, OBEs & Self-healing

Feeling the presence of a non-physical entity, experiencing being outside of one’s own body and alleviating the sensation of pain without medicine – these experiences sound like science fiction movie themes . However, recent neuroscience research has explored how these occurrences happen by ordinary means while investigating the underlying brain mechanisms that induce them. On Monday April 10th (7pm) at the Upstairs Arts Space in Columbus, Ohio,  Pavo Orepić of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience (LNCO) of École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland will present what his lab has discovered about what happens in one's brain while experiencing these “supernatural” sensations and how can they be induced by external sensory manipulation.

Pavo Orepić is a neuroscience PhD student at EPFL in Switzerland. He is currently involved in several projects at the Center for Neuromodulation, located at the Department of Neurosurgery at The Ohio State University (OSU). Having graduated in computer science at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, his job is developing virtual reality technologies that are being used as tools for prominent neuroscience research.

Admission is free. Donations to offset meeting expenses will be gratefully accepted. RSVP at Facebook.  More info at parapsych.org.

Announcing the Columbus Ohio Psychic Experiences Group

We are forming a central Ohio group dedicated to the discussion of psi and consciousness through the sharing of personal experiences.  The Columbus Ohio Psychic Experiences Group (or CO-PEG for short) is based on a model developed at the Rhine Research Center, with other similar groups meeting monthly in North Carolina and New York.

Monthly meetings follow a simple policy of honesty, privacy, and sharing without judgment. Shared experiences may touch on topics such as telepathy, healing, precognition, extended senses, psychokinesis, remote viewing, dreams, haunting, reincarnation, near death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and other exceptional experiences. 

As personal stories flow, ideas and inspiration begin to flow for developing our extended senses, and for finding creative ways to be of greater service in the larger community.  

4th Mondays, 7-9pm

Upstairs Arts Space

4601 N. High St. Suite 200 (Beechwold Building)

RSVP online at Facebook

Take part in an online psychic research study

As part of an on-going research project, part-funded by the Society for Psychical Research, Dr David Vernon of the Canterbury Christ Church University is interested in exploring the nature of extra sensory perception, or ESP. This is a fascinating and contentious subject with some people reporting experiences while others argue that such things are impossible. However, as a scientist Dr. Vernon's job is to remain open minded yet critical – and examine the data.

With this in mind he has put together an on-line study that takes about 15 minutes that will help
him to examine a particular aspect of ESP. Take part by visiting: https://cccusocialsciences.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1EKCfAPdkV3aVSZ

John Hopkins University Survey on OBEs and NDEs

The States of Consciousness Research Team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is conducting an anonymous online survey of Near Death Experiences (NDE's), Out of Body Experiences (OBE's) or other non-ordinary experiences that fundamentally altered beliefs or understanding about death and dying.

If you have ever had such an experience, they would greatly appreciate it if you would take their survey. If you know of others who have had such an experience please send them the link and encourage them to participate. This includes people who had such an experience long ago.

Although the survey could take 30+ minutes (the time length can vary based on how much you choose to reply to open-ended questions), you may find this survey interesting.

REASONS TO TAKE THE SURVEY:

1. The survey is an opportunity to revisit and contemplate a significant and possibly transformative experience.
2. You may find it meaningful to further explore some of the philosophical implications of your experience.
3. You will be making a unique and important scientific contribution.

Please share: http://www.deathanddyingsurvey.org/home.html

Roland Griffiths, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
IRB approved application: IRB00080423

A Totally Free Parapsychology MOOC

If you've already encountered websites like Coursera, edX, and Academic Earth, then I probably don't have to tell you that massively open online courses (MOOC's for short) are hot stuff right now.  Being a bit of a Coursera junkie myself, I have completed courses offered by top universities on everything from science writing to music production and finance - all for free and all in the privacy of my own home.  So imagine my excitement to learn that some seriously hard-working professionals have banded together on the Wiziq.com platform to offer the world a totally free Parapsychology MOOC in 2015. 

The course starts this Monday, January 5th, and during its roughly 6 week run, MOOC participants will be treated to 22 content lectures from researchers, scientists, educators, graduate students and experiencers from the field of parapsychology. Enrollment is quickly approaching 600 students with wide international representation, so joining the course will provide lots of opportunities for cultural exchange.  And if the online course structure is not your thing, keep an eye on the Parapsychology Online YouTube channel, as the lectures from Wiziq.com will be appearing there after a couple of days.

More course details are available at the Parapsychology Online Wordpress site, or you can head straight to Wiziq and sign up for the course right now.

I'll see you there.

Free Downloads of Articles on Psychical Research in the History of Science and Medicine

A special section on psychical research, guest-edited by Andreas Sommer for the journal Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences, is available for free download until the 7th of December 2014. Visit the Forbidden Histories Blog for links to the downloads.

Open Sciences Website

A relatively new website has recently come to my attention: www.opensciences.org

OpenSciences.org is "a portal for open-minded scientific investigations that go beyond the dogmas that dominate so much of science today. The main areas covered include consciousness studies, alternative energy sources, integrative medicine and healing, post-materialist approaches to science and new aspects of cosmology, physics, chemistry and biology. The website includes selected videos, books, publications, journals, and links to the websites of open-minded scientific researchers and organisations."

It's a well-organized and informative site, and I'm not just saying that because they link to Public Parapsychology as one of their Top Blogs from Scientists and Scholars.  I could lose an entire weekend exploring all of the rich links contained there.

Kudos to editor/developer Sebastian Penraeth  and the founders of the Campaign for Open Science  - Mario Beauregard, Gary Schwartz, Lisa Miller, Larry Dossey, Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Marilyn Schlitz, Rupert Sheldrake and Charles Tart -  for this important initiative.

Videos from Ex TEDxWestHollywood

Perhaps you remember last April 2013 when TED pulled the plug on the TEDxHollywood event "Brother, Can You Spare A Paradigm" featuring Russell Targ, Larry Dossey, and many others?

The event organizers decided to continue the event, even without TED's backing, and the resulting videos are available at YouTube.

This is old news, but certainly worth revisiting.  See the 4 minute sizzle reel below:

Online Parapsychology Conference

On November 1st and 2nd, academics, scientists and professors from the Instituto de Psicología Paranormal in Argentina, the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the University of Northampton in England, the University of Strasbourg in France, the Institut für Grenzegebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene in Germany, the University of Padova in Italy, and the University of West Georgia in the United States, among other locations, will be gathering for online conference on the interface between parapsychology and psychology.

Registration ranges from $30 to $50 and scholarships are available.

Visit the Parapsychology Online website for more information.

Survey at CSAPP

Researchers from the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP) based in the Psychology Division of the University of Northampton are interested in whether people seek support following an anomalous experience. They acknowledge that anomalous experiences can be both distressing and positive and would like to know where people go if they want to discuss the meaning of the experience or seek support:

https://survey.northampton.ac.uk/care

Crowd Funding Campaign for PhD Research on Communicating with the Deceased

Harriet Stubbes, a PhD student at the University of York, UK, is starting the second year of her research project looking at how people use social networking to communicate with and about the deceased. However, since winning a Parapsychological Association Research Endowment grant in 2013, her funding has run out and she is in need of tuition assistance for her second year of study.

It can be very difficult for those with unorthodox research interests to find the support from traditional funding sources for their graduate studies. Please visit her campaign page at StudentFunder to learn more about her research and find out how you can help.

OBE Research Study at Nottingham Trent University

Have you had one or more Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) in which it seems as if your sense of self or consciousness has become separated from your physical body? These experiences can occur under a variety of conditions. If you have experienced one or more OBEs researchers at Nottingham Trent University  are interested in hearing from you.

The aim of their research is to develop an OBE ‘screening’ scale which will be able to more precisely identify whether someone has had an OBE. At present no such tool exists for OBEs. Their research is not testing your experience in relation to psychological variables as is commonly done in OBE research, but instead explores the content of the experience itself to better understand it and differentiate it from other experiences.

To do this they would like your help by asking you if you would fill in an online questionnaire anonymously about the individual aspects of one of your OBEs. Your inclusion of this experience is important as it will contribute to the development of the scale. You can access the questionnaire by clicking on the link below.

The questionnaire includes full information on the study to enable you to decide whether or not to participate and offers a general definition of the OBE.

The inclusion criteria for this study (aside from your experience fitting our definition) are:

• You have no known organic condition which causes you to be prone to visual hallucinations
• You are able to provide informed consent
• You are over 18 years old
• You are able to provide a short written account of your OBE in English
• You are able to recall all of the OBE you wish to tell us about (i.e. not just give a partial account of it)

You won’t need to note these down but please only participate if you can agree with these criteria.

The survey can be completed by clicking the link below:

https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ntupsychology/obequestionnaire

Closing date of the survey is: 31st July 2014

If you wish to find out more about the survey, or wish to take part and have any queries, please contact Andrew Hodrien at: andrew.hodrien@ntu.ac.uk.

Exceptional Experiences Survey

Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore (Assistant Professor of psychology in the psychology department, University of West Georgia)  is currently undertaking a survey investigation into exceptional experiences. The survey is looking to understand more about factors influencing when people have and do not have exceptional experiences. She would love to hear from you whether you have had any exceptional experiences or not: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UWGexperiences