Unexpected Psychic Magic
“Close your eyes and visualize the object in the bag. See the shape, the color, and then describe your first impression without filtering or analyzing. Write it down or draw the image on the paper in front of you. I’ll give you a minute then let’s see what you have,” Russell explained. We were at the Mind and Matter Conference in 2004 at the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Northern California, where Russell Targ was offering ‘Introduction to Remote Viewing’ to a group of about seventy scientists and researchers.
Hands went up and Russell called on them in turn.
“It’s pink.”
“It’s metallic.”
He saw my hand raised way in the back. “Gail?”
“It’s one of those heavy eight-armed Shivas made of brass, with a lotus base.”
Russell froze for several seconds. Finally he said, “We have to stop.” He slowly reached into the bag and pulled out a brass eight-armed Shiva sitting on a lotus base, and showed it to the audience.
Everyone turned around in their seats to stare at me. The shocked look on Russell’s face mirrored my own. Neither Russell nor I was expecting this, and we had no idea what to say. How could we make it clear I wasn’t a shill and my ‘sight’ wasn’t a joke or a trick? I didn’t mean to end the demonstration.
“This is very awkward,” Russell began. “Gail and I are friends but she has never seen or heard of this object. I just bought it this morning for this demonstration.”
Later that day I caused a bit more commotion at the conference. Professor Daryl Bem of Cornell University is a mentalist and magician who specializes in faking ESP for science. His presentation involved several objects unknown to him hidden in a bag. He planned to tell the audience the contents as a way to show how easily ESP could be faked.
Instead, I blurted out, “There’s a sand dollar in the bag!” loud enough for the people around me to hear. The audience members squealed with astonishment as he pulled a sand dollar out of the bag. When the lecture was over Dr. Bem came over to meet me and said, “What I was doing with this audience was ‘magic,’ Gail. What you did was real. Would you like to participate in my current experiment?”
Of course I would. What a privilege for such a well-respected scientist to invite me to work with him. By this time I had been a subject for six years in scientifically controlled experiments with Russell Targ, Dr. Ed May, and Dr. Dean Radin in his paranormal research laboratories. Some of the research data from our work together was good enough to write about in journals and scientific papers. Such validation was gratifying. I welcomed any opportunity to learn more about this mysterious phenomenon which has been such a major part of my everyday life.
I don’t know why some of us have these kinds of experiences more than others. I don’t know how they work. Mine were random and less frequent before the age of 15. After that, with training and practice, my psychic awareness grew deeper and became a part of my ordinary day to day life. But even though I didn’t understand at first, I learned from an early age to follow my intuition wherever it led.
This is a peek at a larger memoir. The other stories already on Medium can be found here. If you enjoy what you’ve read, clap generously! Feel free to contact me at ghayssen at sonic.net.
