We’re happy to announce the debut of a new column titled “Aliens Above, Ghosts Below” by parapsychology pioneer Dr. Barry Taff. Dr. Taff’s presence here is particularly appropriate and compelling given The Teeming Brain’s intertwined focuses on the cultural, artistic, and philosophical experiences and meanings of horror, consciousness, creativity, and the paranormal. For it was…
Category: Paranormal
UFOs, cultural synchronicities, and “a very real power in the creative process”
Over at Silver Screen Saucers, the always-interesting Website about Hollywood’s long-running engagement with UFOs, you’ll find a very long and totally absorbing essay by author and illustrator Mike Clelland about “a deep dark hole of synchro-weirdness” that opened up for him when he rewatched the 1974 television movie The Stranger Within, which he first saw…
A neurosurgeon on consciousness beyond the body: “The materialist picture is doomed”
Neurosurgeon Eben Alexander, who has spoken at (for example) the Rhine Research Center, writes in the current issue of Newsweek about his personal discovery and conviction that consciousness exists beyond the body. His argument is especially intriguing because, although it is based on his own personal experience, it goes beyond the limp and lame argument…
Anthropology and anomalies: A brief history of explaining (away) the supernatural
Jack Hunter, editor of Paranthropology: Journal of Anthropological Approaches to the Paranormal, has just published a fascinating article at Reality Sandwich about the history of anthropological approaches to making sense of anomalous and seemingly supernatural experiences. In addition to tracing the long legacy of strategic decisions by various scholars and thinkers that led to the…
“Parapsychology Today” – David Metcalfe interviewed
Our own David Metcalfe recently appeared as the featured guest on the Expanding Mind radio show. The episode, which is fully streamable and downloadable, is titled “Parapsychology Today” and described like this: “Parapsychology, esotericism, and the changing information landscape: a talk with writer and blogger David Metcalfe.” Click the player to listen, or visit the…
Book Recommendation: “Exploring the Edge Realms of Consciousness”
Readers of The Teeming Brain will find something of more than passing interest in the just-released nonfiction anthology Exploring the Edge Realms of Consciousness: Liminal Zones, Psychic Science, and the Hidden Dimensions of the Mind. This is indicated not only by the book’s heady subtitle, and not only by fact that it is co-edited by…
John Dee’s Enochian Apocalypse
Doctor John Dee (1527-1609) remains one of Londonâs most intriguing historical figures. He was a confidant of Queen Elizabeth I, who guided the nation through one of its most challenging eras, partly based upon Deeâs unique blend of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy. In fact, the Queen had so much faith in Deeâs calculations she…
Study: Human psychology combines natural and supernatural thinking
AUSTIN, Texas â Reliance on supernatural explanations for major life events, such as death and illness, often increases rather than declines with age, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin. The study, published in the June issue of Child Development, offers new insight into developmental learning. âAs children assimilate…
The rise and fall (and rise) of artist and magician Austin Osman Spare
If you haven’t heard of Austin Osman Spare — or even if you have — the video below makes for fascinating and revelatory viewing. It features author and magician Alan Moore, as well as other knowledgeable figures, discussing “the virtually unknown but enormously talented Edwardian artist and magician Austin Osman Spare on The Culture Show…
Aliens and ontology: Are abductions “not real” if they’re “just dreams”?
Note the predictable materialist-reductionist assumption that characterizes a newly reported round of research into the alien abduction phenomenon. Because people could be trained to see/experience aliens and abductions while such phenomena were clearly not physically happening, Michael Raduga of Los Angeles’ Out-of-Body Experience Research Center deemed the phenomena themselves to be, therefore, illusory products of…