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ECTOPLASM From the Greek ektos and plasma and meaning 'exteriorized substance', ectoplasm a whitish substance that allegedly extrudes from the mouth, nose, ears or other orifices of the medium during a séance.

The phrase coined in the last nineteenth century b y French psychologist Charles Richet, who recorded the phenomenon in his research with the ectoplasm-producing medium Md d'Esperance. It is said to smell like ozone [ a sweet clover like smell], to be either warm or cold to the touch and to appear either light and airy or sticky and jelly like, with a structure that varies from amorphous clouds to a net like membrane that can transform into limbs, faces or bodies of ghosts or spirits. If exposed to light the ectoplasm is said to snap back into the mediums body, sometimes causing discomfort, pain and injury. Many believe this substance to be the matter that composes ones astral body and is the basis of all psychic phenomena.

In experiments in the early 1990s medium Martha Beraud was said to produce masses of white and grey material during a sitting. She was thoroughly examined beforehand by German doctor, Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, to confirm that she wasn't hiding anything. The baron described Berauds ectoplasm as sticky icicles that ran down her face and onto the front of her body where they assumed faces or shapes.

Research into ectoplasm was conducted well into the twentieth century and analyses of small pieces of ectoplasm did in some cases, although not all reveal fraud, with the use of substances such as muslin, toothpaste, soap, gelatin and egg white. Magician Harry Houdini once said that he couldn't believe superior beings would all the production of such disgusting substances from the human body. Interest in ectoplasm has declined but some modern mediums are still said to produce the phenomenon.

ELECTROKINESIS A form of psychokeinesis, electrokenesis is the ability to create and control electricity using only the powers of the mind. So far there have been no conclusive studies on or cases of factual electrokinesis.

Electrokinetic ability allegedly causes the psychic to act as a human conductor, able to receive, store or transmit large to small quantities of electricity. There is also the act of draining electricity from electronically based devices and in return recharging them. Those who practise electrokinesis claim to be able to actually explode. Start up or switch off electronic devices either via intense meditation and visualization or through overwhelming emotional response.

Electrokinesis is mostly used by stage magicians as part of their narrative when performing tricks that involve some form of electricity, such as lighting a light bulb simply held in the palm.

EMPATHY The ability to tune in intuitively or psychically to the moods and characteristics of a person, animal or place. Empathy is a vital skill for clairsentients and may involve telepathy, but it can also simply be derived from an unconscious or conscious reaction to the body language of another person.

Empaths are people with highly developed feelings of empathy to others and the world around them. They are particularly sensitive to feelings of pain and distress and in some cases physical and emotional pain may manifest in the empath's own body as the result of sensing the pain of others, sometimes resulting in depression and fatigue. In some cases, empaths can sense illness before a person is aware of it, and a persons death before it occurs. Empaths can also pick up information from places as well. For example, an empath may visit a house and sense particular suffering that has happened there in the past.

Empathy from a distance is most likely to occur when there are strong emotional links between people. For example, twins and long-term partners often have empathic links with each other and mothers are empathetic for their children. There is also evidence to suggest animals exhibit empathic links for each other and for their owners.

Are you empathetic?

Empathy occurs when we feel for others, both their joy and their pain. It is possible to develop empathy so strongly that just by touching someone you can feel or experience what that person does. We are all empathetic to some degree but some are more empathetic than others. If you answer yes to two or more of the questions below you should consider yourself somewhat empathetic:

• Do others easily persuade you?
• Do your moods change according to the people you are with?
• Do you find large groups of people overwhelming?
• Do you feel drained after being around people?
• Do you seem to know that others are feeling?
• Are you a 'touchy-feely' kind of person?
• Are you overwhelmed emotionally at times?
• Do you have a tendency to take on the problems and worries of others?
• Do you have a hard time telling how you truly feel at times?
• Do children and/or animals take to you?

For psychic development and clairsentient awareness empathy can be a valuable asset but it does, however, have a downside. If you are strongly empathetic, someone else's feelings, emotions and attitudes can register so strongly upon us that we assume these are our feelings. We may not realise that what we are feeling may actually be tied to someone else we have encountered or the location we are in. It is very easy to link with the problems and issues of others and carry them with us as if they are our own. If you are not aware you are doing this you can begin to think you are going crazy.

If you find that you have a strong tendency to be empathetic and to experience what others are experiencing it is vital to find ways to deliberately disconnect yourself from others and to have time to be alone every day. Some suggest using visualization techniques to disconnect yourself, such as visualising cutting threads or pulling out cords from the other person. Others suggest visualising a protective bubble around yourself during the day.

ESP [EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION] Term used to describe the ability of some people to perceive things beyond which their five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste can tell them. ESP is often described as a sixth sense, but it does not function like a sense and is not dependent on the other senses, age, location, time or intelligence. It seems to originate in an alternate reality and to bring people information about the past, present and future that they couldn't be aware of under normal circumstances.

Information that comes through ESP is not always significant or accurate, possible because it is affected by the thoughts of the waking consciousness, but in some cases it is.

The term 'ESP' was first used as early as 1870 but it was American parapsychologist J B Rhine who popularised the term in 1934, when he was one of the first to test for GESP, or general extrasensory perception, in the laboratory. ESP is often applied to any psychic or paranormal experience but strictly speaking it is divided into two main categories

ETHERIC BODY also described as an aura, the etheric body is thought to be a second, subtle body which is typically a mirror image of the physical body and which can, under certain circumstances, be projected and travel great distances in a short space of time. It is often said to be the same as the astral body but some traditions believe that the astral plane is one step closer to higher consciousness. In magical traditions the etheric body is said to be composed of fine energy. Recent research not only suggests that the etheric body may exist but that its substance may be electrical energy.

EXPERIMENTER EFFECT a term used in laboratory tests for psi to describe the unconscious psychic influence or bias of the experimenter on the subject. The effect may show up as unconscious telepathic communication or use of body language or attitude communicated to the subject.

The experimenter effect was noticed first in psychology in the tendency of patients and therapists to establish a rapport, and then in psychical research in the 1930s when it became apparent that in some cases the experimenter became the determining factor for the outcome of a test. It was shown that experiments who seemed negative and unsupportive yielded powerful results than experimenters who were positive and encouraging. Subjects also seemed to be influenced by how much they thought their experimenter believed in psi and whether or the experimenter liked them. In 1949 American psychologist and psychical researcher Gardner Murphy suggested that certain brilliant test results were due to the intense feelings of the experimenters.

Some experimenters do appear to get more positive and more conclusive results than others. According to some psi researchers this doesn't necessarily invalidate their test results. It is argued that it is important for the experimenter to believe in psychic ability and to have a positive, encouraging attitude towards the subject, as this creates the kind of relaxed and positive atmosphere conducive to psychic development.