In this second of a three part series we're going to cover a brief history of psychic phenomena. It should probably come as no surprise to anyone that people have been reporting psychic phenomenon since the very beginning of time all the way up to the present. What may surprise you is that these reports were widely accepted by many people including those who were quite well educated. As a matter of fact, many of the pioneers of modern science were believers in psychic phenomenon.

So when did modern psychic phenomenon come about? In order to understand this you have to go back to the beginning of the scientific revolution which was started by the British Royal Society in the 1600s. Men of real science were referred to as "natural philosophers." Many of these natural philosophers like Isaac Newton were men who also believed in psychic phenomenon.

After the scientific revolution came what is known as the "period of enlightenment" which started in the 18th century around 1734. The first man of enlightenment was Franz Anton Mesmer who was a Viennese physician. During this period theories like "electricity" and "magnetism" were considered "invisible fluids." Mesmer discovered another invisible fluid which he called "animal magnetism" which is supposed to be able to heal certain ailments without having to depend on the supernatural. He developed what is called Mesmerism. This induces a state of mind that today we call hypnosis. What Mesmer discovered in addition to this was that certain people had more of an affinity to be able to perform Mesmerism than others. These people were referred to as "gifted."

The Mesmerism movement never really gained scientific acceptance and finally in 1784 The French Royal Society of Medicine and the French Academy of Sciences issued some negative reports on this movement. One researcher associated with Mesmerism, a Baron Carl Reichenbach, developed a vitalist theory to explain parapsychological phenomena. By the 1850s, though it didn't go down without a fight, the Mesmeric movement finally came to an end but the teachings of the movement didn't die with it. Partly because of changes in religious attitudes these teachings were repeated by others who called themselves "mediums" and started what is called the "spiritualist movement." These people claimed to have contact with spirits of dead people. By the middle of the 19th century these mediums were found throughout Europe and in every part of society.

As psychic phenomenon began to spread, spiritualists began to break off from normal scientific society. This was quite evident in 1882 when a number of scientists left the Society For Physical Research located in London because of differences of opinion. Basically the scientists didn't believe in psychic phenomena and the members who broke off did. This has since continued throughout history to the present day.

Today, we are more tolerant of people who claim to have psychic ability. You see them on talk shows TV and hear them with their own radio shows. As an enlightened society we no longer fear these people as they were feared years ago when many of them were persecuted and even killed. Still, many of us are still sceptical. Many of us also believe. It's kind of like religion. We'll never really know for sure who is right.

In the final article in this series we'll go over some of the ways that psychics use their powers.

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Psychics
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