On Saturday, November 28th, 2015, Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, Inc., and the Cardigan Fund presented
The AIPR Mini-Conference 2015
Venue: North Sydney Community Centre (The Morton Room, Ground Floor)
220 Miller Street, North Sydney, NSW
Six Lectures on Parapsychology
Chaired by Dr. Tony Jinks*
School of Psychology
University of Western Sydney
(Penrith Campus) Kingswood, NSW
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Mini-Conference Programme
Session 1 (10:00am to 12:00pm)
Mr. Bill Chalker*
UFO Researcher and Author, Sydney
“Strange Brew: Are Parapsychology and Ufology Compatible?”
In this lecture, renowned ufologist Bill Chalker will examine whether the two areas of study, Parapsychology and Ufology, offer insights into each other. Are Eric Ouellet’s application of Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI), recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (RSPK), and Rupert Sheldrake’s “morphic fields”, three novel approaches, or are they merely Emperor’s new clothes? Are other perspectives and approaches possible?
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Ms. Kylie P. Harris*
PhD candidate, School of Behavioural, Cognitive, and Social Sciences
University of New England, Armidale, NSW
“Spiritual Emergency as a Parapsychological Phenomenon”
Spiritual Emergency (SE) refers to a process of spiritual emergence that becomes overwhelming and difficult to integrate, subsequently sending an individual into a state of psychological crisis. SE may be considered both a transpersonal phenomenon ( involving a transcendence of consciousness beyond ordinary states of waking consciousness), and a parapsychological phenomenon (due to the nature of many of the experiences reportedly involved in SE). SE may involve mediumship, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and so on. Ten types of SE have been identified in the literature: shamanic crisis, near-death experience, Kundalini awakening, psychic opening, past-life experiences, possession states, encounters with UFO’s, activation of the central archetype, dark night of the soul, and peak experiences. These categories of SE will be described, with a focus upon the psi phenomena associated with each.
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Lunch Break – 1 hour (12:00pm to 1:00pm)
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Session 2 (1:00pm to 3:00pm)
Mr. Alexander De Foe* and Dr. George van Doorn*
Alex is a psychologist and lecturer, Faculty of Counselling, Phoenix Institute of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria; George is Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Federation University, Gippsland, Victoria.
“Multidisciplinary Approaches to Out-of-Body Experiences”
Dr. van Doorn and Mr. De Foe will examine both historical and modern theories of out-of-body experiences (OBEs), in addition to recent advances that could make it possible to induce OBEs in experimental studies with the use of perceptual illusions. Part 1 – OBE Theories and Unification: Alex De Foe will canvas OBE theories based in numerous fields, including neuroscience literature, sleep research, schizophrenia research, parapsychology (i.e., extra- sensory perception), psychodynamic and transpersonal models, and studies into perceptual illusions. Alex will also examine the importance of developing a unified definition of the OBE in order to address some of the conflicting perspectives amongst scholars who investigate this phenomenon.
Part 2 – OBEs in the Lab: George van Doorn will explore laboratory-based investigations into OBEs and body ownership illusions (BOIs). The evidence from experimental work will be related back to existing theories to establish which best explains OBEs.
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Tea Break – 1/2 hour (3:00pm to 3:30pm)
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Session 3 (3:30pm to 5:30pm)
Paul Cropper* and Tony Healy*
Tony (from Canberra) and Paul (from Sydney) are paranormal investigators
“Stone Throwers and Fire-Starters”
Part 1 – Pursuing Poltergeists in Australia: In early 1998, just as they were preparing a magazine article about other classic poltergeist episodes, Paul Cropper and Tony Healy found themselves, through a very fortuitous coincidence, “embedded” in the most remarkable Australian poltergeist event of the modern era — the amazing Humpty Doo episode in the Northern Territory. Tony Healy will give a brief account of what transpired there, examine the various factors that may have triggered the weird outbreak, and compare phenomena observed to those reported during other Australian episodes.
Part 2 – The Global Poltergeist: Paul Cropper will describe his recent investigations at three fire-poltergeist sites in Turkey, Vietnam, and Malaysia, and compare events observed there to those recorded during notable historical cases, such as the fiery persecution of the McDonald family in Wallaceburg, Canada in 1829-30. He will also report on the fruitful historical research he has been engaged in since Australian Poltergeist was published, summarizing a few of the most interesting recent poltergeist reports. In 2016, he and Tony plan to gather the dozens of “new” old cases that he has unearthed, and publish them in “source book” form for the benefit of other researchers.
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* Dr. Tony Jinks lectures at the University of Western Sydney, where he teaches neuroscience and paranormal studies to psychology students. He is a specialist consultant for the Australian Journal of Parapsychology and publishes in a wide variety of scientific fields; Mr. Bill Chalker is an Australian author and UFO researcher. His current major focuses include the alien DNA paradigm, the Asian UFO experience, science and the UFO controversy and so-called UFO solid light cases ; Ms. Kylie Harris has an Honours degree in psychology, and is completing a PhD, supervised by Dr. Adam J. Rock ( Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW; Dr. George van Doorn is a Senior Lecturer at Federation University Australia. His main research interest is in exploring perception. Recently, George has merged his interest in touch with illusions, which are useful in that they can tell us about errors in perception, and thus about perception itself; Dr. Alex De Foe is an academic psychologist and adjunct Lecturer in the Faculty of Counselling at Phoenix Institute of Australia. He has researched, lectured, and consulted in the field, having published a sequence of journal articles based on his work on out-of-body experiences (OBEs), and he has taught parapsychology and transpersonal psychology at higher education level; Tony Healey and Paul Cropper have investigated all manner of strange phenomena, both in Australia and overseas, since the mid-1970s and have collaborated on many projects, notably in co-authoring the book Australian Poltergeist, in which they cover eleven of Australia’s most remarkable episodes and, in a comprehensive Catalogue of Cases, document every other incident in their Australian files, some dating from as far back as 1845.
On November 29th, 2014, Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research, Inc., presented
The AIPR Mini-Conference 2014
Venue: North Sydney Harbourview Hotel
Four Lectures
First Speaker: Dr. Tony Jinks*
School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney (Penrith Campus) Kingswood, NSW
“Investigating Claims of Disappearing, Appearing, Reappearing and Replaced Objects”
A surprisingly large number of people claim to have lost a personal item in ‘unusual circumstances’. The typical example involves a household object or possession, such as an apple, spoon, purse or key. These articles are placed in a location and later found to be missing, seemingly for no apparent reason. Popular labels that have been applied to such events include the ‘disappearing object phenomenon’ (DOP) and ‘just one of those things‘ (JOTT). A small range of internet sites are dedicated to recounting tales of anomalous object disappearances, as well as mysterious appearances, reappearances and replacements. These sites also debate the origins of the phenomenon—with poltergeists, fairies, and time warps squarely blamed. However, no serious systematic study of DOP has been undertaken, until now. This presentation examined various characteristic patterns found in a collection of over 400 case studies, and Tony discussed how these patterns might assist in understanding the origins of the DOP experience.
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Second Speaker: Mr. Bill Chalker*
UFO Researcher and Author, Sydney
“UFOs, Alien Abduction and Contact: The Parapsychological Connection”
Drawing on a wealth of anthropological, historical and contemporary research and investigation, the evidence for parapsychological connections in UFO, alien abduction and contact experiences is examined. With a focus on the Australian experience, events as diverse as the 1868-1873 experiences of Parramatta surveyor and alderman Frederick Birmingham, other historical events, the aboriginal shamanic experience, intense UFO flap experience (such as at Tyringham, Kempsey and Mount Butler near Armidale, some experienced by the author), poltergeist type experiences (such as as at Boyup Brook, WA), in contemporary close encounter cases, and abduction and contact type experiences are examined. The DNA mediated case study of Peter Khoury and a biological sample implicated in an alien abduction milieu yielded extraordinary DNA evidence that led to a long-term study of an alien DNA paradigm hypothesis and the book Hair of the Alien (2005). Intriguing parapsychological dimensions in this and other case studies are described. A recent case study examined by the author and Robb Tilley reveal an extraordinary mix of parapsychological, UFO, and alien abduction/contact motifs, that argue for a compelling case for the physical reality of these experiences, including possible “implant” and “missing fetes” evidence.
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Third Speaker: Kylie P. Harris
PhD candidate, School of Behavioural, Cognitive, and Social Sciences
University of New England, Armidale, NSW
“Exploring Spiritual Emergency as a Pathway to Mediumship”
Spiritual emergency (SE) may be defined as a process of awakening that becomes difficult for an individual to integrate into their existing psychological framework resulting in a state of crisis. Psychic opening is often reported as a category of SE, during which an individual may begin to experience mediumistic phenomena and consequently have difficulty understanding and coping. This experience is similar to the concept of ‘shamanic crisis’ and mediumship ‘calls to entry’. Alternately, many people who report SE experiences also describe the development of mediumistic abilities as a result of their experience, or as part of their recovery process. An SE questionnaire could be administered to mediums to determine whether SE is a pathway in the development of mediumship abilities. Additionally, if such an SE measure is utilised in clinical settings, mediumship practices may be incorporated into therapy as part of the recovery process. This presentation looked at these issues, and Kylie proposed some potential avenues for empirical research in this area.
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Fourth Speaker: Dr. Adam J. Rock*
School of Behavioural, Cognitive, and Social Sciences
University of New England, Armidale, NSW
“The Medium and the Message: Delusion or Communication with the Deceased?”
Mediums may be defined as individuals who report experiencing regular communication with the deceased. Interestingly, this definition erroneously suggests that merely reporting or claiming to possess a particular ability is a sufficient condition for possessing that ability. Thus, it is important to distinguish between claimant mediums who are delusional or fraudulent and claimant mediums who actually communicate with the deceased (assuming, of course, that such communication exists). So, it appears pertinent to pose the following question, “How might one assess the validity of claimant mediums’ knowledge claims concerning ostensible communication with the deceased?” This question takes us to the heart of what is often referred to as the source-of-psi problem—i.e., what is the source of claimant mediums’ ostensibly anomalous information reception? Adam’s presentation reviewed various theories and empirical studies focusing on the source-of-psi problem in the context of mediumship.
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Speakers: Dr. Tony Jinks lectures at the University Western Sydney, where he teaches neuroscience and paranormal studies to psychology students. He is a specialist consultant for the Australian Journal of Parapsychology and publishes in a wide variety of scientific fields; Mr. Bill Chalker is an Australian author and UFO researcher. His current major focuses include the alien DNA paradigm, the Asian UFO experience, science and the UFO controversy and so-called UFO solid light cases; Ms. Kylie Harris has an Honours degree in psychology, and is completing a PhD, supervised by Dr. Adam J. Rock; Dr. Adam Rock is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of New England, Armidale, NSW, where he teaches and conducts research in psychology and parapsychology. He was past President of AIPR, Inc.
On November 21, 2013, AIPR in conjunction with the University of Western Sydney presented:
The 5th Annual AIPR Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Rafael Locke
Visiting Professor, Division of Perceptual Studies
Dept. of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioural Sciences
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Topic: “Navigating to the Inside: First Person Science Perspectives on Consciousness and Psi”
First person science of consciousness has emerged as a challenging and potentially fruitful approach to investigating the relationship between consciousness, states of consciousness, and psi phenomena. It is concerned with subjective experience rather than with observation and measurement focused on behaviour, physiological, and neurological factors. In this lecture, Dr. Locke showed how first person science of consciousness effectively addresses the ‘inside’ of the research process with respect to what it is like to be a research subject and a research scientist. Dr. Locke discussed some promising lines of investigation in the field of ‘neurophenomenology’—the study of relationships between human experience and brain events and dynamics.
Dr. Locke showed how experience itself requires very sophisticated and often controversial research methods, and he illustrated his points with examples from current research and specific case studies. Dr. Rafael Locke has conducted clinics in psychotherapy, integrative medicine and cultural medicine (shamanic practice) for the last 30 years in the US and Australia. His approach to working with people is informed by the latest in research on consciousness, the dynamics of healing, neurosciences and cross-cultural medicine.
After the lecture, Dr. Adam Rock (past AIPR President) announced the release of Harvey Irwin’s new book Education in Parapsychology (pictured right). Harvey’s book is the second in the AIPR Monograph Series. Copies are available for purchase ($25.00): Click here to order
On November 7th, 2012, AIPR in conjunction with the University of Western Sydney presented
The 4th Annual AIPR Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Lance Storm
School of Psychology
University of Adelaide
Topic: “Synchronicity and the I Ching“
In 1960, psychologist Carl Gustav Jung published a book called “Synchronicity” which described a paranormal phenomenon he called ‘meaningful coincidence’. This controversial phenomenon has been contrasted with ‘meaningless chance groupings’ and paranormal phenomena such as Extra-Sensory Perception (e.g., mind-reading). Ironically parapsychologists, who have been studying ESP for over a century, tend to ignore Synchronicity, even though it is a paranormal phenomenon. Jung thought the ancient Chinese system of divination, the I Ching, might be a way of testing Synchronicity. In this lecture, Dr. Storm introduced some basic parapsychological concepts, and presented results from his studies on the I Ching. Dr. Storm also discussed the purpose and usefulness of the Synchronicity concept. Dr. Lance Storm is a Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide where he conducts research in psychology and parapsychology.
On November 29, 2011, AIPR in conjunction with the Phoenix Institute presented
The 3rd Annual AIPR Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Tony Jinks
School of Psychology
University of Western Sydney
Topic: “What Is Paranormal Belief And Can It Be Measured?”
Psychology has a troubled relationship with the and arguably the most comfortable way for mainstream psychologists to associate with the field is through the study of superstitious and paranormal beliefs, rather than actual paranormal experiences. This presentation briefly discussed the history and variety of paranormal belief questionnaires, how they are administered, and the sometimes-heated arguments over research outcomes. This lecture was based on Dr. Tony Jinks’ newly released book, An Introduction to the Psychology of Paranormal Belief and Experience. Dr. Tony Jinks lectures at the University of Western Sydney, where he teaches neuroscience and paranormal studies to psychology students. He is a specialist consultant for the Australian Journal of Parapsychology, and he publishes in a wide variety of scientific fields.
From 2009 to 2013, the AIPR held the AIPR Annual Lectures series in November each year. Our inaugural lecture in 2009 featured parapsychologist Dr. Jurgen Keil who spoke on past life information. To hear Dr. Keil’s lecture (duration: 34 mins.), go to the menu bar above and click on ‘RESOURCES’. In 2010, Dr. Adam Rock spoke on the correspondences between Transpersonal Psychology and Parapsychology.