| Agent |
Refers to the spirit phenomenon witnessed by a percipient. This word has largely been replaced by "entity." |
| Amulet |
An object that is thought to bring good luck or have the power to protect from ghosts or spirits and ward off evil.
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| Ancestor Worship |
A religious practice very common in the ancient world, in which one's deceased ancestors were believed to reach the status of deities after death. Sometimes rituals of spirit necromancy would be performed to consult with the spirits of these deified ancestors for guidance or the receiving of blessings. |
| Angelology |
A term that literally means "the study of angels." However, the term has come to mean any religious or theological doctrine that involves the roles, gierarchies, or arrangements of angels. |
| Angelology |
A term that literally means "the study of angels." However, the term has come to mean any religious or theological doctrine that involves the roles, gierarchies, or arrangements of angels. |
| Anthropomancy |
A term that comes from the Greek anthropos (man/human) and manteia (prophecy/divination), and refers to the ritualistic disembowelment of a live human sacifice for purpose of divination. A practitoner of this art is called an anthropomancer. |
| Apocryphal |
Literally means "probably not true." In religious terminology, it refers to writings/text considered questionable by a main religious body. Denominations sometimes set these texts aside but do not ompletely forbid them. In other cases, they may be read but not cited. In extreme situations, even the mention of an apocryphal text is strictly forbidden. |
| Apparition |
A spectral image of a person that materializes even though a physical body is not present.
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| Apport |
A physical object that can materialize and appear at will in the presence of a medium. |
| Asport |
A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear. |
| Astral Body |
The body that a person occupies during an out-of-body experience. |
| Astral Plane |
A world that is believed to exist above our physical world. |
| Astral Projection |
The intentional act of having the spirit leave the body, whereas an out-of-body experience will happen involuntarily. (See out of body experience). |
| Astrology |
The theory and practice of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and human affairs. |
| Aura |
An invisible emanation of light that seems to surround a person or thing which is often thought to reflect a person’s personality. |
| Automatic Writing |
This method of obtaining information from disembodied spirits is used by mediums in which the spirit takes control over the medium causing them to translate unconscious information on paper without being aware of the contents. |
| Automatism |
An unconscious or involuntary muscular movement caused by spirits |
| Autoscopy |
The visual hallucination or image of one's body looking back at themselves from a position outside the body. (See out of body experience). |
| Ball Lightning |
A rare form of lightning in the shape of a glowing red ball that can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Typically associated with Thunderstorms, these spheres are thought to consist of ionized gas. |
| Banshee |
A wailing spirit or death omen that will appear to be in two different places at the same time. |
