The Psychomanteum "The Glass Spirit Or Ghost Booth" of Lisa Lee Harp Waugh

By Fritz Helm

A psychomanteum (sometimes spelled as psychomantium, and often called "mirror gazing") is a mirrored room, specially set up to communicate with the spiritual realm. Reflective objects or surfaces, such as blood or water, were considered a conduit to the spiritual world in ancient times. Today Lisa Lee Harp Waugh has a entire rooom in her covered with mirrors. The ceiling and the floor also in her Houston 5th Ward Houston home.

Waugh is a modern day Necromancer and has practiced these rituals for over 20 years everday of her life. I recently traveled from my home in Germany to meet the Great American Necromancer in her home state of Texas. The word necromancy derives from the Greek (nekrós), "dead", and (manteía), "divination".

Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to early human history. One of the most well-known is the story Witch of Endor, who was said to have raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew king Saul to question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the First Book of Samuel in the Jewish Tanakh.

Mediumship became quite popular in the United States after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date to the mediumistic activities of the Fox sisters in New York state 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid 1800s. Mediumship was also described by Allan Kardec, who coined the term Spiritism, around 1860 .

After the exposure of the fraudulent use of stage magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers, mediumship fell into disrepute, although it never ceased being used by people who believed that the dead can be contacted.

From the 1930s through the 1990s, as psychical mediumship became less practiced in Spiritualist churches, the technique of channelling gained in popularity, and books by channellers who related the wisdom of non-corporeal and non-terrestrial teacher-spirits became best-sellers amongst believers.

There was once a message given by Jonah, the entity that speaks through a meduim Hossca Harrison in Colorado, he came through and said that one day there would be someone claiming to be a medium on every streetcorner. Since that statement someone can sign up for a corispondance course, to become a channel. Therefore most of the people out there are fraudulant, however simply because most are fruads does not disprove this phenomenon. The concept of channelling goes back before ancient Greece, the oracles that Socrates talked to where channels.

However, since the Renaissance, necromancy has come to be associated more broadly with black magic and demon-summoning in general, sometimes losing its earlier, more specialized meaning. By popular etymology, nekromantia became nigromancy "black arts", and Johannes Hartlieb (1456) lists demonology in general under the heading. Eliphas Levi, in his book Dogma et Ritual, states that necromancy is the evoking of aerial bodies (aeromancy).

Waugh's Psychomanteum is a 10x10 room completely mirrored wall to wall ceiling and floor. The effect is strange to say the least. Waugh would not let me enter the room but allowed me to peer into it. In modern time necromancy is used as a more general term to describe the art (or manipulation) of death, and generally implies a magical connotation. Modern séances, channeling and Spiritualism verge on necromancy when the invoked spirits are asked to reveal future events. Necromancy may also be presented as sciomancy, a branch of theurgic magic.

Necromancy is extensively practiced in Quimbanda and is sometimes seen in other African traditions such as voodoo and in santeria, though once a person is possessed by a spirit in the yoruba tradition he cannot rise to a higher spiritual position such as that of a babalawo, but this should not be regarded as a modern tradition, in fact it predates most necromantic practices. And through this Waugh researched several area's of occult practices to fully understand what she was doing.

Ectoplasm (paranormal) White/Gray/transparent, viscous. Resembles mucus. Said to ooze from solid objects or from medium's bodies involving mucous membranes (nose, eyes, mouth). Usually takes form as a misty substance. Coined by: Charles Richet (1923)

Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and Umbanda which is believed by its adherents to be a form of communication with spirits. The term "mediumship" denotes the ability of a person (the medium) to apparently experience contact with spirits of the dead, spirits of immaterial entities, angels, or demons. The medium generally attempts to facilitate communication between non-mediumistic people and spirits who may have messages to share.

A medium may appear to listen to and relate conversations with spirit voices; go into a trance and speak without knowledge of what is being said; allow a spirit to enter their body and speak through it; relay messages from the spirits those who wish to contact them with the help of a physical tool, such as a writing implement.

Mediumship is also part of the belief system of some New Age groups. In this context, and under the name channelling, it refers to a medium who receive messages from a "teaching-spirit".

In some cultures, mediums (or the spirits working with them) are believed to be able to produce physical paranormal phenomena such as materialisations of spirits, apports of objects, or levitation.

Ectoplasm (paranormal), a physical substance that supposedly manifests as a result of "spiritual energy" or "psychic phenomenon". This makes beings made of ectoplasm impossible to be seen unless one is spiritually sensitive.

Ectoplasm (from the Greek ektos, "outside", + plasma, "something formed or molded") is a term coined by Charles Richet to denote a substance or spiritual energy "exteriorized" by physical mediums. Ectoplasm is said to be associated with the formation of ghosts, and hypothesized to be an enabling factor in psychokinesis.

Notable mediums have included: Derek Acorah, Rosemary Altea, Sathya Sai Baba, Clifford Bias, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Emma Hardinge Britten, Sylvia Browne, Edgar Cayce, Andrew Jackson Davis, Jeane Dixon, Allison DuBois, John Edward, Danielle Egnew, Divaldo Pereira Franco, Colin Fry, Serge J. Grandbois, Elizabeth "Betty" Grant, Esther Hicks, Daniel Dunglas Home, Indridi Indridason, Richard Ireland, M. Lamar Keene, JZ Knight, Joseph Kony, Lekhraj Kripalani, Mr. Pibb, Margaret McElroy, Dr. Pepper, Hirday Mohini, Jorge Olguín, Eusapia Palladino,Bill Philipps, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Jane Roberts, James Van Praagh, Stanislawa Tomczyk, John Wattam, David Wells, Lisa Williams, and Chico Xavier.

Since its inception in the field of spiritualism, the concept of ectoplasm has escaped to become a staple in popular culture and fictional supernatural lore. Notable examples include Noel Coward's 1941 play Blithe Spirit, and the 1984 film Ghostbusters; in which "ectoplasmic residue" secreted by ghosts is portrayed as viscous, cloudy and greenish-white, similar to nasal mucus, famously referred to in Bill Murray's line, "He slimed me!"

Ethel Post Parrish sits in The Spirit Cabinet or " Ghost Booth" producing ectoplasm to materialize the entity Silver Belle during a seance under test conditions in the United States, 1953.

Rituals are concerned with Necromancy, Divination or preparation of Amulets, Potions or other devices intended to bring supernatural aid, to obtaining resources or to deal with other areas of life. Additionally, the spirit-entities of this cult provide advice to their followers to aid in resolving life's problems. In most respects a gira of Quimbanda will appear pretty much the same as one of Umbanda, with only a likely shift in the color preferences, which, as with most Bantu religious practice in Brazil and Africa emphasizes red, black and (sometimes) white, rather than having predominantly white.

Waugh's Room Of Glass

Sometimes described as an "apparition booth" the psychomanteum dates back to ancient Greece, where a person would gaze into a still pool of water. This silent and steady gazing into a reflective pool would produce apparitions or visions. In 1958, the Classical Greek archaeologist, Sotiris Dakaris found accommodation near the Dodona oracle spoken of by Homer and Herodotus, where supplicants would wait their turn at the oracle in complete darkness. An extensive maze led to a long central apparition hallway where the experience took place. There Dakaris found the remnants of a bronze cauldron ringed with a banister which made it appear that the people who were seeing the apparitions would be gazing at the cauldron.

"My gazing psychomanteum room is set up to optimise psychological effects such as trance." "You are gazing into infinity," says Waugh. "The romm is also wired for sound so anything that is said or heard is recorded." "The floor is morrored as well is thw ceilinfg and walls so when your inside it there is no up or down." "You are at the very heart, or center of the Paranormal universe." " Suspended between life and death and the worlds of the unknown."

Its key features are low light or near-darkness, flickering light, and the mirrors. The dimness represents a form of visual sensory deprivation, a condition helpful to trance induction, the undifferentiated colour without horizon producing the Ganzfeld effect, a state of apparent "blindness". The Ganzfeld experiment replicates the conditions of a psychomanteum where a state of trance may be induced by a uniform field of vision. In the way of strobe or flashing light, stimulus is provided by indirect, moving light in the psychomanteum. Flickering candles or lamp are sometimes recommended to induce hallucination. It is supposed the indeterminate depth of the mirror’s darkness allows the eyes to relax and become unfocussed, a state that reduces alertness.

Mirrored Room Scrying (also called crystal glass gazing, crystal mirror seeing, seeing, or mirror peeping) is a magic practice that involves seeing things psychically in a medium, usually for purposes of obtaining spiritual visions and more rarely for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. The media used are most commonly reflective, translucent, or luminescent substances such as crystals, stones, glass, mirrors, water, fire, or smoke. Scrying has been used in many cultures as a means of divining the past, present, or future. Depending on the culture and practice, the visions that come when one stares into the media are thought to come from God, ghosts, spirits, the psychic mind, the devil, or the subconscious.

At one time a fellow Necromancer Waugh knew had a mirrored coffin psychomanteum that they would lay in to communcate with the dead. Waugh like the idea but decided to make an entire room in her home as her personal psychomanteum. " I am not clostrophobic I just felt it needed to be a larger area then just a box." States Waugh. Behind the mirrors iis also speakers that pipe in low level of white noise. Sparing no expense the room once inside seems to have no exit or entrance.

Enterting the room totally nude Waugh lies in the center and falls into a deep trance she says. And in moments spirits speak to her audiably. Often they physically manifest themselves as light or as whole seemingly alive human beings.

Other Ways To Scry For Ghosts

Although scrying is most commonly done with a crystal ball, you can also use any smooth surface, such as a bowl of liquid, urine, a pizza pan painted black with india ink filling it, a crystal, or as expert scryers can, a painted silver or black thumbnail. Scrying is actively used by many cultures and belief systems and is not limited to one tradition or ideology. However, like other aspects of divination and parapsychology, it is not supported by mainstream science as a method of predicting the future or otherwise seeing events that are not physically observable.

Dr Raymond Moody, author of the 1981 book about near death experiences, Life After Life, included the psychomanteum in his research trialling 300 subjects which he recorded in his 1993 book, Reunions. Moody viewed the room as a therapeutic tool to heal grief and bring insight.

Rituals that involve many of the same acts as scrying in ceremonial magic are also preserved in folklore form. A formerly widespread tradition held that young women, gazing into a mirror in a darkened room (often on Hallowe'en) could catch a glimpse of their future husband's face in the mirror — or a skull personifying Death, if their fate was to die before they married.

Another form of the tale, involving the same actions of gazing into a mirror in a darkened room, is used as a supernatural dare in the tale of "Bloody Mary". Here, the motive is usually to test the adolescent gazers' mettle against a malevolent witch or ghost, in a ritual designed to allow the scryers' easy escape if the visions summoned prove too frightening.

The visions that scryers say they see may come from variations in the medium. If the medium is water (hydromancy), then the visions may come from the color, ebb and flow, or ripples produced by pebbles dropped in a pool. If the medium is a crystal ball, the visions may come from the tiny inclusions, web-like faults, or the cloudy glow within the ball under low light (e.g. candlelight).

One method of scrying using a crystal ball involves a self-induced trance. Initially, the medium serves as a focus for the attention, removing unwanted thoughts from the mind in the same way as a mantra. Once this stage is achieved, the scryer begins a free association with the perceived images suggested. The technique of deliberately looking for and declaring these initial images aloud, however trivial or irrelevant they may seem to the conscious mind, is done with the intent of deepening the trance state, wherein the scryer hears their own disassociated voice affirming what is seen within the concentrated state in a kind of feedback loop. This process culminates in the achievement of a final and desired end stage in which rich visual images and dramatic stories seem to be projected within the medium itself, or directly within the mind's eye of the scryer, like an inner movie. This overall process reputedly allows the scryer to "see" relevant events or images within the chosen medium. The hand can also be used as a medium to see the future.

Bomoh is the term for a shaman in Malaysia. They are also known as dukun. The bomoh's original role was that of a healer and their expertise was first and foremost an in-depth knowledge of medicinal herbs and Malay geomancy. This was supplemented by Sanskrit mantera (mantras) owing to the ancient Hindu-Buddhist influence in the region. Although the word is Malay, there are bomoh of all religions and races.

Some bomohs use cemeteries to summon spirits to fulfill requests by supplicants, while others only deal with a single spirit. It is said that sometimes the bomoh selects the spirit, while other times, it is the spirit who selects the bomoh. Spirits can perform healings, seek missing persons or even investigate reasons for bad luck. Spirits can also be used to possess peoples, cause sickness and miseries and many other bad things. Bomoh who have a particular religion may incorporate their religious practices into their craft.

The bomoh works with rituals and incantations, or jampi-jampi, which is derived from the verb menjampi, meaning to cure by magic.

The bomoh's craft remained largely unchanged even after Islam became dominant until the Islamic revival in the 1970s and 80s. Bomoh were then seen as deviant from the Muslim faith because of their invocation of spirits and the potentially harmful black magic they practiced. This period saw a drastic decline in authentic bomoh and many fraudulent shamans filled the void. As a result, bomoh are today looked at with suspicion even though they are still commonly consulted for medical or personal reasons.