Ghostly Glossary H-L

From The Parapsychology Foundation www.parapsychology.org
HALLUCINATION
An experience having the same phenomenological characteristics as a sense-perception,and which may lead the experient to suppose the presence of an external physical object as the cause of that experience, but in which, in fact, there is no such object present.
HAUNTING
The more or less regular occurrence of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality (especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of steps and voices, and various odors.
HEALING, PSYCHIC
Healing apparently brought about by such non-medical means as prayer, the “laying on of hands,” Psychic healing; immersion at a religious shrine, and so on, and inexplicable according to contemporary medical science; not to be confused with merely unconventional medicine.
HYPNAGOGIC STATE
Term referring to the transitional state of consciousness experienced while falling asleep, sometimes characterized by vivid hallucinations or imagery of varying degrees of bizarreness; sometimes used to refer also to the similar state of awareness experienced during the process of waking up. Compare Hypnopompic State. [From the Greek hypnos, “sleep,” + agogos, “leading”]
HYPNOPOMPIC STATE
Term coined by Frederic Myers to refer to the transitional state of consciousness experienced while waking from sleep; the term “hypnagogic” is sometimes used to refer to this state also. [From the Greek hypnos, “sleep,” + pompos, “escort, guide”]
HYPNOSIS
A condition or state, commonly resembling sleep, which is accompanied by narrowing of the range of attention, is characterized by marked susceptibility to suggestion, and can be artificially induced.
INTUITION
Somewhat ill-defined term referring to the faculty of coming to an idea directly, by means other than those of reasoning and intellect, and indeed often outside of all conscious processes; the source of these messages is often said to be in the normal, mundane, unconscious, but it is often also said to be the result of mystical or paranormal processes. The word sometimes refers to the process, sometimes to the product of intuition. [From the Latin intueri, “to look at, contemplate”]
JUDGING
The process whereby a rating or a rank-score (that is, “1st,” “2nd,” “3rd,” and so on) is awarded to one or more responses produced (or targets used) in a free-response test of extrasensory perception, in accordance with the degree of correspondence obtaining between them or one or more targets (or responses); also, the attempt to match, under blind conditions, a set of targets with a set of responses.
KIRLIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
A type of high-voltage, high-frequency photography, developed in the Soviet Union by Semyon Davidovich Kirlian, which records on photographic film the so-called “corona discharge” of an object caused by ionization of the field surrounding that object; it is claimed by some that this process indicates the existence of hitherto unknown radiations or energy fields such as “bioplasma” or the “psychic aura.”
LEVITATION
The raising or suspension of persons or objects into the air without any apparent agency as required by known physical laws of motion and gravity.
LUCID DREAM
A dream in which the dreamer is conscious of the fact that they are dreaming.
LUMINOUS PHENOMENA
The paranormal production of light phenomena, generally in the presence of certain physical mediums.