D

Daemon (Daimon)

A guardian spirit who communicates inspiration and advice. See also guardian angel.

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Death

Generally understood to be the extinction of an organism's life. Many doctrines assert some form of mental or spiritual survival of physical death. See also deathbed experience, haunting, mediumship, near-death experience, reincarnation.

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Deathbed Experience

A dying person's awareness of the presence of dead friends or relatives. See also near-death experience.

Decline Effect

A decrease in performance on a psi test when the test is repeated. Cf. incline effect.

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Deja Vu

A person's feeling that current events have been experienced before.

 

Delta

A term used to refer to any kind of anomalous experience.

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Dematerialization

The paranormal fading or disappearance of a physical object. See also deport.

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Demonic Possession

Possession by evil spirits. See also exorcism.

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Deport

The paranormal movement of objects out of a secure enclosed space. Cf. apport. See also dematerialization, teleportation.

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Dice Test

Experimental techniques for investigating psychokinesis, in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice.

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Direct Voice

A voice heard in a seance which does not seem to emanate from any person. The voice may seem to come out of thin air, or from a trumpet used specifically for this purpose. Cf. indirect voice.

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Discarnate Entity

A spirit or non-material entity. Often used to refer to the personality of a deceased individual. See also channeling, communication, mediumship, possession, survival.

 

Displacement

Responses on a psi test that correspond systematically to targets other than the intended one (e.g., those before or after).

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Dissociation

Activity performed outside of normal conscious awareness, or mental processes that suggest the existence of separate centres of consciousness.

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Divination

Practices involving the interpretation of signs or symbols that seek to obtain oracular knowledge of events. Examples of divinatory practices are geomancy, tarot, I Ching, sortilege, and reading tea leaves.

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Divining Rod

A forked rod (or sometimes a pair of L-shaped rods) used in dowsing.

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DMILS

"Direct Mental Interaction with Living Systems". Psychokinetic influences on physiological processes. See also Bio-PK.

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Doppelganger

A mirror image or double of a person. See also astral body.

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Double

A duplicate of one's own body. See also astral body

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Double Blind

An experimental procedure in which neither the subject nor experimenter is aware of key features of the experiment.

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Down Through Technique (DT)

An experimental test for clairvoyance in which the person guesses the order of a stacked series of target symbols (e.g., cards) from top to bottom. Cf. up through technique.

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Dowsing

The paranormal detection of underground water or mineral deposits (or lost persons and objects) using a divining rod or pendulum.

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Dream

See paranormal dream.

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Drop-in Communicator

An uninvited communicator who 'drops in' at a sitting.

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