At least once in the life, everyone of us has experienced a phenomenon which is impossible to explain rationally: a premonitory dream, an correct intuition or to feel the mood of the one shaking our hand.

Some people, however, seem to be more sensitive than others and their perception goes beyond, causing more complex phenomena than the simple telepathy or the kinetic energy (capability to move objects by the power of the mind) and the mediumistic trance.

An absolute skepticism marks the position of scientists toward these exististing phenomena since ever and which are often mentioned in the literature of all the ages. Recently, the Educational Foundation of James Randi has even offered as a million dollars prize for the one who can demonstrate to have paranormal qualities.

A different opinion belongs to Parapshychologists, scientists studying unusual events associated to the human experience. They argue to have collected sufficient favorable proofs, during experiments in laboratory, and accuse other scientists to not admit the evidence of these events. After all, it is enough to think of how hypnosis was considered, not too long ago, as a paranormal event and was cautiously observed, whereas today it is sucessfully employed in medical treatments. 

Paranormal phenomena are different. Following we talk about some among the most significant ones.

TELEPATHY

To give a correct definition of this phenomenon, we can say it is the perception or the transmission of an information or an event which can happen in distance, by no mean of the five traditional senses. It can be spontaneous or voluntary: in the first case, the person receiving it learns about an event referring to the present or to the future, not through traditional ways, but he/she "feels", "perceives", "sees" the event inside him/herself. In the second case, instead, telepathy is determined consciously, purposely, trying to "guess" an information or an event in a larger proportion than the one admitted as normal, based on the propability calculation.

Telepathic phenomena occurred during the course of the history are many, but only since 1882, when the Society for Psychical Research was founded in London, the basis were set for a scientific study of teleoathy and paranormal occurrences connected to it.

To study this phenomenon experimentally, special cards have been created, the Zener cards, reproducing 5 symbols: a square, a circle, a cross, the waterflow, and a star. Mixing these cards and taking one by chance, the examined subject is asked to guess the symbol. In this way it is possible to evaluate the possibility the cards can be causally guessed by.

In 1920 Geymans, Bringmans and Wynberg made some particularly significan experiences in Groninga along with the Dutch telepathist Van Dam. He sat, blindfolded, in front of a board divided into 48 squares, placed on six horizontal lines and eight vertical columns. The lines were numbered from 1 to 6 and the columns were marked from A to H, so that each square was signalized by a number and a letter, like in the "naval battle". The experimenters had two groups of cards, one with the numbers from 1 to 6, the other with letters from A to H. From each group respectively, a card was casually drawn, so to form a combination of a letter and a number. Van Dam had to indicate the corresponding square. Out of a 187 drawings, Van Dam guessed about sixty combinations, a number which is far from the casuality. This gift was also experimented to show more when Van Dam was alone in the room and even a little dose of alcohol seemed to have stimulating effects, making easier telepathic occurrences.

SPIRITISM

Some phenomena and the theory trying to give them some explanation fall under the word "spiritism". They are, in a wider meaning, ghost appearances, ectos, "poltergeist". They are indeed events which are hard to explain by the normal laws of physics, biology, and so on.

More specifically, the very meaning of the term seems to admit the involvment of "spirits", usully dead people. Many theories are opposed to this one, explaining these events by the involvement of our subconsciousness or allucinations.

The matter is much debated, and if Robert Amadou asserted that "none can prove the authenticity of physical phenomena attributed to the medium", so to doubt the existence of paranormal phenomena, Charles Richet, father of "parapsychology", didn't hesitate to reject the "spiritistic" hypothesis because it would postulate that narrow-minded people survived to the destruction of their brain. So, in the wake of Richet, most paraspychologists tend to deny any connection paranormal phenomena can have to spirits, paying more attention to subconscious occurrences.

The passion for spiritualism is more evident during the 19th Century, impressing the popular fancy. Many seances took place and so did supernormal events and at the end of the century these phenomena were seriously studied. Sir William Cookes, a famous English physician, turned to strongly sustain their authenticity up to Thirties, a wider space was give to those facts like telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, which can be analyzed in a laboratory and that Joseph Rhine gathered together in the term "ExtraSensorial Perception" or ESP, introducing Statistics as a method of control and evalutaion of results.

A number of hypothesis were made to explain these events, listed below:

1. Many spiritualistic exhibitions revealed to be anything but tricks and fakeries, by a watchful experiment. One for all, we can mention what happened the night of March 31 1848 in Hydesville, New York. The Foxes awoke by some strange knocks seemingly coming from Kate and Margaret's - their daughters - bedroom. The parents assumed that their house was infested by a ghost. In short time, the two sisters were considered as very powerful mediums, travelling throughout the United States and evoking spirits by request for a fee. Only in 1888 Margaret confessed that the knocks were actually made by snapping toes on the ground, hidden by the wide and long skirts of those years. However, to stand all the ESP phenomena are only attempts to fraud is a too simple theory.

2. In fact in this spiritualistic occurrences and connected phenomena there is no trick: one part is surely explained by influence, which makes the experimenters victims, both in a spontaneous way (self-suggestion) or by the medium. This is why today, in these experiments, electronics and complex devices which limit the possibility of experimenters to be influenced, up to sensorial deprivation. Charles Honorton, parapshychologist had this idea. In 1974 he proposed the "ganzfeld" technique (from German "uniform field"): the receiving subject sat eye- and ear-covered in an isolated and reddish enlightened room.The first experiments produced excellent results, but to a sharper exam they turned out to be lacking by method errors. In 1990 the equipe of Honorton repeated the experiment successfully: according to statistics 25% exact casual aswers were expected, whereas the achieved percentage was 34%. The probability of a mere coincidence was one over 20,000.

3. So, if some manifestations are accepted to have no trick, suggestion or self-suggestion, a "paranormal" explanation is needed. The simplest and the most popular one states that during the experiments, "spirits" really appear, as souls of dead people, perispirits or other different "entities" from living humans. Under a more scientific profile, spiritualism must be studied taking into consideration the ones making or taking part to spiritualistic experiences.

4. Spiritualistic phenomena are hypothetically a brain product of the conscious or unconscious activity of the experimenters. During the spiritualistic experience some "vibrations" of cerebral cells may occur, and spreading all around, they can produce those phenomena interpreted as spiritualistic manifestations. The fact that whatever is said in the "spiritualistic answers" belongs to the cultural store of experimenters, supports this assumption.

5. Philosophers and theosophers set another hypothesis against this one, according to which the "spirit" is the product of the fusion of a kind of "fluid" generated by the medium and by one of the people attending the experience: the two fluids, combining, form ghosts.

6. Some other scholars assume that it is a "psychic force" every person has, whose strength is variable and, showing with more or less intensity, provokes different events.

WHAT THE ASTROLOGY SAYS

All these phenomena, from telepathy to spiritualism, share undeniable gifts of intuition, receptivity, permeability to external signals on "superior" nature that lead to develop the so-called "sixth sense", to which the interest for death and after-life are connected, especially in the case of spiritualism.

The analysis of Planets is thus fundamental: the Moon (sensitivity, receptivity, sensibility, intuition), Neptune (tightly linked to mediumistics and spirituality), and according to Gouchon, Uranus, and in our opinion Pluto, because of its connection to unconscious, although the other analogy of its, the lie, brought the self-defining mediums to underline their presumed powers by tricks and cunning having - alas - not much of supernatural! Water Signs in general (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) are involved as well because of their large concern toward this kind of topics, and, for extention, Houses 8 and 12. Moreover, according to Gouchon, the Ascendant is mostly emphasized in Pisces or in Scorpio.
 

FAMOUS MEDIUMS

GERARD CROIZET
Born on 10.03.1909 in Gemeente aeen at 15.00.

The illustrious Dutch medium, who discovered his supernatural power after a traumatic event, often and successfully cooperated with the police looking for missing people, passed some experiments, the most famous of is the "experiment of the empty chair" where he sat on a casually chosen chair and gave the description of the person who would sit after him.

In his chart the Sun is in the receptive Sign of Pisces, placed right in the VIII Sector, at Neptune's trine , underlining the oustanding intuition.The Moon is in Libra, very powerful because close to the FC and to the Pluto's (unconscious) and Mercury's (Master of the XI House where Pluto is placed) trine. Pluto, in turn is trine to the ruler of Scorpio. A very strong intuition harmoniously combines to a remarkable intelligence and has made a sensitive medium to other people's problems (component Pisces and Neptune in aspect to the Sun).
 

EDGAR CAYCE
Born in Hopkinsville, KY, il 18.3.1877 at 15.00.

Famous mostly for his prophetic visions, Cayce, during his trances, travelled the time, both in past and in future and in particular left some writings concerning the lost continent of Atlantis. In trance, he described its life, its people and the nature of the event which caused its disappearance.

He is remarkably Pisces, with the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn in the sign, and shows all these Planets in the VIII House, offering sufficient justifications to his great mediumistic powers by which he produced many writings (Mercury).

The Moon inTaurus is conjoint to Neptune, exhalting the psychic aptitudes, both in trine to Jupiter and Mars and, with Pluto, in X House, stressing the great popularity Cayce had and still has.

Furthermore, Uranus in I House is remarkably in aspect, although negative, to Pluto and the Moon, which emphasizes this man's eclectic and untraditional - if compared to his time - features.

GUSTAVO ROL
Born in Turin, il 20.06.1903 at 12.00.

Recently deceased, the Italian medium passed through unique paranormal phenomena, some of which showed even post mortem to people he had been very fond of. In particular he could create objects out of nothing.

Again there is a strong aspect between the Sun and Neptune (in this case, conjunction, though reduced because it occurs astride of two Signs, Gemini-Sun and Cancer-Neptune), placed in X House along with a culminating Pluto close to the MC.

The Moon in Aries is in VIII House, very stimulated by a sextile to Pluto and in trine with Uranus. Again, like in the case of Croizet, Mercury is in a Sign of Air, in this case Gemini, very powerful in IX House, the one of spiritual heights, in trine to Saturn and Mars. 

A disputed case: Uri Geller
Born in Tel Aviv il 20.12.1946 at 2.00.

Uri Geller became famous for his capability to bend teaspoons only by the power of thought and had moments of great popularity especially in TV. The American conjurer James Randi stated to have discovered his tricks.

In his chart a very strong conjuction Jupiter-Venus-Moon is shown underlining this man's great magnetism. Neptune is in XII, in positive aspect to Pluto and Mercury. Uranus is in VIII House, Pluto in X and the Sun is conjoint to Mars. These aspects indicate a great wish to show and a sense of prima donna. Furthermore, Mars, disposer of the second natal sector, conjoint to the Sun right in this second sector, the one dedicated to the earned money, stresses a self-useful treatment of great sensitive qualities, which are present anyway.

(Report presented at the Astrology Congress in Vico Equense, 4th-6th June 1999,
organized by the astrology review "Ricerca90")