A comparison of the features of the psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences - Parapsychological Abstracts - Brief Article

Journal of Parapsychology, The, March, 2002 by Sally R. Feather

SHERWOOD, S.J. (2000). A comparison of the features of the psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic experiences. International Journal of Parapsychology, 11,97-121.

Many participants who enter a psychomanteum chamber report reunions with deceased loved ones, ranging from a sense of presence to vivid and realistic visual encounters. Some reunions happen later when the participant is in the hypnagogic or hypnopompic state. There are strong similarities between psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic imagery in terms of the circumstances in which the experiences occur and the content and progression of the associated imagery. One difference between psychomanteum and hypnagogic/hypnopompic imagery is that, in the former case, the participant presumably has his or her eyes open. Psychomanteum experiences do not tend to feature non-verbal auditory imagery but seem to be more interactive, and more emotional, and to have more of an impact; verbal or mental communication also tends to be more coherent. Apart from paranormal explanations, one possible normal explanation for psychomanteum apparitional experiences is that they involve hypnagogic-like imagery whose content may be in fluenced by the participants' needs, motivations, and expectations.

--Author's abstract