Conference hydra::dejavu

    
    
    re .0
    
        It may seem that this kind of phenomenon occurs more in the
        twilight hours  but I don't believe that's the case.  When
        the psychic centers open up, one can (according to their beliefs)
        restrict the use of this natural sense (ex. x will happen only
        if I do y, only at certain times etc), however, it is just another
        sense - forgotten and often tabooed but non the less everyone
        has the potential to develop it.   I look at it as a type of
        consciousness .... and as we know, one can be conscious even
        when the body is unconscious - at sleep/ under anesthesia etc.
        What we do with our consciousness is up to us.
    
        When people start opening to their intuition/esp, whatever you
        want to call it, they often follow certain steps until they
        get used to the different states of mind.  There are certain
        principles involved here.  If someone's mind is functioning
        at a brain frequency of around 20 cps it is unlikely they will
        easily attune to the subtle vibrations which are picked up at
        a lower brain frequency (between 7 & 14 cps).  People who teach
        meditation focus on quieting the body and therefore lowering
        the brain activity. Meditation often opens doors to the types
        of experiences referenced in Dejavu.  Children usually live their 
        everyday lives close to this cps (often referred to as the Alpha
        state).  They are more attuned; learn more quickly, are more
        flexible  etc at this level, as are adults when they master
        the dicipline and their states of mind. There are studies done by 
        Duke University and other pararesearch groups which support this.
    
        The things we discuss in Dejave, I believe, are not unnatural
        or magic or made up.  Science is starting to realize these things
        exist altho they cannot be explained in current scientific terms.
        IT doesn't mean the 'how' won't be exlained some day.  I have
        found, as many others have that mind is an amazing thing, which
        we've only begun to explore.  It can teach us a lot about ourselves
        and our world.  I think
        the individuals who know themselves more objectively and understand
        their motives and beliefs may be able to explore differently
        and perhaps to greater degrees than those with more rigid beliefs.
    
        The MIND does beg the question, 'why does it exist at all'  - 
        Some beliefs:
                     
        o to increase our consciouness in order balance the liminted
          physical senses with the permanent aspects of our spirit and
          our tie to non-physical reality/afterlife
        o To understand the illusions we present to ourselves
        o To give us the oppty to choose how we create our world(s)
        o To provide us with the vehicle to communicate with our higher
          source - to know we're not hanging out here alone and at the
          mercy of a random universe
        o to give us a different path to greater understanding - 
        o To drive us crazy
        o or, to just plain show us we're not as smart as we sometimes
          think we are
    
      I look forward to others comments on ' why mind exists'.  
                                                                 
    Cheers
    
    Lora

    There are several reasons these things _seem_ to happen more at
    twilight/evening hours, however:
    
    1) Some disciplines require concentration that can be augmented
    by darkness.  Using a point of light or a candle flame as a reference
    works a lot better if there are fewer things in one's field of view.
    
    2) Some have suggested that certain phenomena might be affected
    by interference from the sun (like radio noise at certain frequencies).
    I rather doubt it, but it's a possibility.
    
    3) Certain people feel that secrecy is important to the success
    of their operations, and to those, operating "under cover of darkness"
    gives them a psychological boost.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    
    
    re .2
    
    
                Thanks Steve :)  
                
                Are you, however, saying that you agree that more of
                the 'dejavu' types of experienced DO occur at night
                or more specifically, occur more at certain times of
                the day than others?
    
    
       Lora         
    

    Re .3:
    
    I think more do -- because more people expect them to.  Frequently,
    people do things out of habit.  This eventually becomes tradition,
    and sometimes evolves into superstition.  [To take something
    non-arcane, the original idea of not walking under ladders was very
    practical -- avoiding having things, people, or ladders falling
    on them.  This has evolved into it "being unlucky" to walk under
    ladders, whether something falls on you or not.]
    
    Now particularly before the Industrial Revolution, the only time
    people had to try any activities was after dark when such things
    as tilling the soil, building artifacts, or the like, was impractical.
    This doubtless evolved into a tradition, and is now firmly fixed
    in some people's mind as _the_ time period to Do Things.  And,
    since attitude is a part of the process....
                     
    Hope this helps.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    
    
       Interesting. I view the sixth sense as something to be used all
       the time, as with any of the other senses.  I can appreciate
       the point made in .4, altho I think there needs to be a different
       kind of encouragement/destigmatization (word?) around confining
       the use of this sense.  It becomes a way of living rather than
       part of a skill set to be engaged in certain environments.  Perhaps
       I'm using it in a broader sense.  I do agree that one doesn't
       use some of the tools like ritual etc. in inappropriate situations,
       but, it seems to me that all the tools are asking us to increase
       our consciousness and that does speak to all situations.
                                            
    
       Lora
           

	In the world of Don Juan, presented by Castenada, the time of
day was very important.  Don Juan called twilight "The crack between the
worlds", and stessed that power (ie psychic power) was at its peak during
this time.  Twilight was _the_ time to attempt any crossing from one world
to another.

Dave.

    I think I am more psychic at night because my co-workers don't believe
    me when I tell them that Elvis' ghost is living inside our TU78.
    
    Seriously, I think there are three major reasons that more psychic
    phenomenon happens at night.
    
    Being a skeptic for the moment, it is easier to believe you saw
    something when you didn't when you can't see anything very well.
    
    The second reason is practical - many people are busy with work
    and business during the day, and don't pay attention to psychic
    phenomenon.
    
    The third is that since most people sleep at night, and therefore
    dream at night, and dreaming is a *very* powerful tool, even to
    someone who has never exercised any control over his dreams.  Many
    phenomenon could be attributable to dreams - either your own or
    someone else's interacting with you through their dreams.
             
    Of course, there are other possibilities.
    
    Elizabeth

    I agree that certain skills like ESP, seeing aura's, and some forms
    of premonitions are more "24-hour" skills that don't require the
    person with the talent to utilize them only during the evening hours.
    
    I was thinking more in terms of seeing phantoms, ghosts, and
    experiencing poltergeist activity.  Although such "hauntings" (for
    lack of a better term) are not limited to the twilight, it seems
    like they are more predominately occuring then.  Yes, no, maybe?
    
    Ann_who's_facinated_by_things_that_go_bump_in_the_night

    
    Because in the evening and at night most people are tired and have
    brains that need a good garbage-collecting sleep, and can't see
    well.   This means they are very poor judges of what is happening
    around them, and hence tend to see things that more reflect what
    they want/expect/fear than what is.
    
    I have wondered about the practise of closely studying dreams -
    if in fact that are a consequence of the brain "garbage-collecting"
    then aren't you just studying the things your brain is trying to
    get rid of, and hence keeping it more cluttered up?
    
    /Bevin                                            
    

    For my own experience, I see phantoms, ghost etc at any time,
    day or night, anywhere, usually unexpected.  Doesn't matter
    if I am working, sleeping at my desk,:-), or at home.  
    
    vivian
    

    Just to keep this from becoming a "rathole" note, let's make a few
    agreements among ourselves:
    
    1) those who work with or experience paranormal events may do so
    from different perspectives and/or traditions.
    
    2) perceptions of events have both objective and subjective components.
    
    3) some events are strengthened by positive thoughts or feedback.
    
    4) one person's event may be another person's non-event.
    
    Given that:
    
    Since most people sleep at night, anything dream-related (prophetic,
    "telepathic," or whatever) is most likely to occur after dark.
    
    Most people have daytime activities that keep them busy until
    evening/night.  Therefore, anything that they would _attempt_ to
    do they'd more likely attempt at night.
    
    Night or darkness increases contrasts.  Assume you believe in, say,
    ghosts, and that ghosts manifest themselves as faintly glowing,
    misty forms: when would you be more likely to see them?  Day or
    night?
    
    Night, mist, and isolation increase a person's receptivity (and
    susceptibility, for that matter).
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    An interesting idea has been turning itself over in my head regarding
    the things that go bump in the night.  As many responses to this
    note have pointed out, many paranormal talents need not be confined
    to the dark hours.  As others have alluded to, what may be different
    about night is that we are not mentally occupied elsewhere and
    therefore our _perception_ of those things, with us all the time,
    is stronger.
    
    The idea is that the nighttime heightening of people's perceptions
    to possible paranormal events has an astrological basis.
    
    Consider:  even though the planets move through the signs in one's
    birth chart in a clockwise direction, their daily travels around
    this chart occur in a counterclockwise direction.  Take your Sun:
    This means that at dawn it is crossing the Ascendent (rising sign
    degree) it travels up to the Midheaven (highest overhead degree)
    by noon, drops down to the Descendent (western sign degree) by sunset
    and then into the bottom of the chart at night.  One can sort of
    intuit this from the house position of the sun in their charts.
    A person born at dawn will have the Sun close to the Ascendent,
    either in the 1st or 12th House; a person born near noon will have
    the Sun in the 10th or 11th House; a person born around dusk will
    have the Sun in the 7th or 6th House; and a person born close to
    midnight will have the Sun in the 4th or 3rd House.
    
    Two more pieces of background info:  First, the Sun in anyone's chart
    represents the _cohering_ force in the personality, that which produces
    conscious ego expression (and perception) of all facets of the Self.
    Second, the bottom half of the chart is believed to represent the
    "private", or internal phase of your existence, the You that you
    are when not interacting with the world at large (symbolized by
    the top half of the chart).
    
    So the Sun travelling below the horizon of the birth chart, just
    as it does in the visible sky, draws your awareness with it into
    non-worldly realms.  I found the reference to the importance of
    dusk by Casteneda to be very interesting from this viewpoint.
    
    Now, as has been pointed out, perhaps what one tends to see "after
    dark" tends to be one's internal bogeymen, rather than perceiving
    otherworldly events.  But the 3rd House of anyone's birth chart
    represents the realm of the _conscious_ mind, and that is where the
    Sun traverses shortly after midnight.  In the accounts of precognitive
    dreams I've read in this file I've noticed a frequency of occurrences
    between the hours of midnight and 3 AM; this is when, in the symbolism
    of astrology, one's awareness and will (Sun) is focused on bringing
    other things to consciousness.  I have never had true precognitive
    dreams; however, my subconscious does talk to the rest of me, and
    I find that if there's something important to be said, the Inner
    Me tends to say it between midnight and 3 AM because this is when
    the Outer Me can best hear it.  I take for granted the ability to
    recall the dreams I have just at dawn; that's fairly common.  The
    ones I sit up and take notice of are the ones that I remember even
    though I dreamt them in the "middle of the night" and _still_ 
    remembered them.
    
    So take a look at what planets are in the houses in your chart's
    lower hemisphere, especially in the 3rd.  If they are connected
    at all to planets placed in the 12th House or to the 12th House
    ruler, maybe there is a reason you hear the things that go bump
    in the night better at night.
    
    Marcia

  I believe that most "paranormal" perceptions take place when the mind is
open and receptive, which means it is subject to a lower interrupt level from
environmental distractors.  Since, as pointed out in an earlier reply, most 
human activity customarily takes place during the day, and there are far
fewer distractors at night.

  Similarly, we have fewer concerns and are more relaxed (and therefore more
receptive) after leaving the work place, kids in bed, pressures removed, etc.

  There is another factor which may enter into this, though, and that is our
own level of expectation.  This may be partly a product of centuries of
exposure to charlatans who could scare the bejasus out of us with their 
"magical" frauds only if it was sufficiently dark that the rubes couldn't see 
the ropes and other props. One of Houdini's favorite tricks in exposing these 
people was allegedly just to turn the lights on without warning.  After all, 
should a genuine seance have to be conducted in total darkness?  In any case, 
people came to associate mystical events with darkness because it was a necess-
ary concomitant of the charlatanism by which they loved to be fooled. I suspect 
that most - but not all - of our modern-day "mystics" still fall into this 
category.

  Remember, it is only in recent decades that anyone has undertaken really
serious scientific investigation of "paranormal" phenomena.

RE: .14
    
    "Recent decades" is the last 10.  The Society for Psychical Research
    is a bit over 100 years old.  The American Society for Psychical
    Research is slightly younger, it celebrated its centenial a little
    over a year ago.
    
    				Topher

    Another point:
    
    Some traditions suggest one work either after susnet or at dawn.
     To me, this suggestion is clearly symbolic; however, some symbols
    act as psychological boosts for many people.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.