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REINCARNATION the doctrine that the soul returns after death to a new physical body to live another life. Reincarnation is a central belief in Buddhism and Hinduism bit it is not limited to the East and is also common in the West. For many people the idea that a person can be reincarnated is substantiated by stories of past life recall that can be backed up with corroborating evidence. Accounts of people who claim to remember events between lives are often similar to accounts of out of body experiences and near death experiences.

According to a 1981 Gallup Poll, one in four Americans said they believed in reincarnation. Most people's ideas about reincarnation derive from Hinduism or Buddhism. These religions grew out of a set of animistic soul beliefs characteristic of the indigenous tribal peoples of India. One common characteristic of animistic beliefs about reincarnation is that the spirit of the dead person divides after death: one path travels to the land of the dead where it becomes a spirit, while the other part returns to earth to be reborn.

Various methods were and still are employed in tribal societies to determine the past life identity of a child. The patent may have announcing dream, which predicts that a certain person will be born to them. Babies are checked for birthmarks or birth defects, which might indicate who they are. Reincarnation is facilitated or impeded through burial customs; for example, dead infants are sometimes buried beneath the floor of the home to make it easier for their souls to return to their mothers. Human beings may not always be reborn as human children; in many societies they may be reborn as animals.

The jury is still out to whether reincarnation is a genuine phenomenon. Efforts have been made to investigate reincarnation scientifically and validate claims of past lives. Most notable is the research conducted by Ian Stevenson, professor of psychiatry at the University of Virgina, who began investigating reincarnational memories of children all over the world in the 1960s with impressive results. The main problem, however, is that science does not recognise the existence of an essence that survives the brain after bodily death, and reincarnation by its very nature implies survival after death.

RELAXATION a state of deep rest - not sleep, but rest - in which the metabolism of the body slows and brain waves slow to an alpha state. Relaxation of body and mind is stressed in all Eastern religions as a prerequisite for mediation and is believed to be vital for the development of psychic powers.

In 1952 the first scientific study of relaxation in relation to psi was conducted by the American parapsychologist Gertrude Schmeidler. Schmeidler found that patients who had been hospitalised with concussion scored much better in psi guessing tasks than those suffering from other disorders, and came to the conclusion that it was due to their greater relaxation. Subsequent studies have confirmed Schmeidlers conclusion.

A basic relaxation exercise

Choose a quiet place where you wont be interrupted. Before you start, do a few gentle stretching exercises to relieve muscle tension.

Make yourself comfortable, either sitting or lying down. Start to breathe slowly and deeply, in a calm and effortless way. Gently tense and then relax each past of your body, starting with your feet and working your way to the your face and head.

As you focus on each area, thinking of warmth, heaviness and relaxation. Push any distracting thoughts to the back of your mind; imagine them floating away. Don't try to relax, simply let go of the tension in your muscles and allow them to become relaxed. Let your mind go empty. Some people find it helpful to visualise a calm, beautiful place such as a garden or meadow.

Stay like this for about 20 minutes, then take some deep breaths and open your eyes, but stay sitting or lying down for a few moments before you get up.

REMOTE VIEWING The ability to see distant or hidden objects, events and locations beyond the range of the physical eye. For example, a viewer might be asked to describe a location on the other side of the world, which he or she has never visited; or a viewer might describe an event that happened long ago; or describe an object sealed in a container or locked in a room; or perhaps describe a person or an activity - all without being told anything about the target, not even its name or designation.

The term 'remote viewing' was coined in the 1970's by American physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff. Used extensively by so-called 'psychic spies' during the Cold War for classified military projects, it has a long history both as an intelligence gathering tool as the subject of research and applications in the civilian world. It is believed to be one of the oldest forms of psi and has been used for centuries in Tibet, Africa, India and the Americas.

JANE ROBERTS [1929 - 1984] twentieth century author and poet who is best known for channelling an entity called Seth.

Jane Roberts was born in Saratoga Springs, New York and was the author of numerous short stories and poems. One day in September 1963, while she sat writing poetry, her mind was suddenly flooded with astonishing and new ideas and her consciousness allegedly lifted out of her body. When it returned she discovered that thorough automatic writing she had recorded the ideas that had come into her mind. The notes even bore the title 'The Physical Universe as Idea Construction'.

She began working with Ouija board and on 2 December 1963 a communication came from a dead English teacher, whom Roberts identified as Frank Withers. Checks of local records indicated that he had indeed existed.
After several sessions with Withers the entity indicated that he wanted to be called Seth, to express 'the whole self I am, or am trying to be'. Withers, the entity said, was part of a much larger personality and on occasions he even called Withers a 'fat head'. Seth described himself as an energy personality essence that no longer had physical form. He told Jane and her husband, Robert Butt, that he had know them in a previous life in seventeenth century Denmark. Seth also claimed to have had numerous lives as both a man and as a woman.

Seth suggested communications should take place twice a week, and so began Robert's incredible career as a channel for Seth. Over time she discarded the Ouija board for clairaudient channelling and it was noticed that in deep trance her voice would deepen and her features would change. Seth explained that speaking through Roberts involved a 'psychological extension, a projection of characteristics on both our parts'.

Seth claimed to be a personality with a message and said that he had lived many lives, in various forms. His central message was that human beings create their lives with their thoughts, actions and beliefs. He also stated that each person has multiple personalities and there are no limits to the growth of self. Humans reincarnate many times and the past, present and future exist in simultaneous now. According to Seth there is no karma that punishes or rewards a person for actions in past lives, rather progress of the soul depends on its psychic and spiritual development.
Seth maintained that God is neither male nor female but the sum of everything that exists within each one of us. The drama played out by Christ was a manifestation of God in a way that humans can understand. Seth also predicted the 'second coming' in 1075, when an individual would emerge as a great psychic destined to teach others how to use their inner senses to make true spirituality possible.

Famous Seth quotes

'You get what you concentrate on. . . there is no other main rule'

'Therefore, as always, make of this voice what you choose to make of it. Make of me what you choose to make of me, but recognise within yourselves the vitality of your being. And look to no man or no idea or no woman or no dogma, but the vitality of your own being, and trust it. And that which offends your soul, turn away from, but trust yourself.'

'I come here because it is fun. I have fun when I come here. I do not come here because I feel that I have any great responsibility for your beings or welfare. Who am I to set myself against the innate wisdom of your own individual being, or to take upon my invisible shoulders the great privilege or joyful responsibility for your behaviour and destiny?'

'The self has no boundaries except those it accepts out of ignorance'.

'If you are in poor health, you can remedy it. If your personal relationships are unsatisfactory, you can change them for the better. If you are in poverty, you can find yourself surrounded by abundance . . . Each of you, regardless of position, status, circumstances, or physical condition, is in control of your experience. '

'In the most basic sense, the purpose of life is being - as opposed to not being'.

'Using your free will, you have made physical reality into something quite different than was intended. You have allowed the ego to become overly developed and specialised. You were here to work out problems and challenges, but you were always to be aware of your own inner reality, and of your non physical existence. To a large extend you have lost contact with this. You have focused so strongly upon physical reality that it became the only reality you knew.'

'You create your reality according to your beliefs and expectations; therefore you should examine these carefully. If you do not like some aspect of your world, then examine your own expectations.'

ROSICRUCIANS an umbrella term for a number of esoteric and occult sects which claim to be the oldest secret societies in the world. Many of them base their teachings on those of 'Christian Rosenkreutz', who was allegedly a medieval monk who travelled the Middle East studying mystic traditions. On this return he founded the Order of the Rosy Cross, where he and his fellow monks applied the lore of magic and healing Rozenkreutz had learned on his travels.

Rosenkreutz's writing may have remained in obscurity had it not been for the publication in Germany in 1615 of a pamphlet entitled 'Fama Fraternitatis', supposedly written by Rosenkreutz but probably the work of Johann Valentin Andreas, a Wittenberg theologian.