The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal. Theresa Cheung

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СКАЧАТЬ dogs, serpents and unicorns linger among superstitions and fairy tales today. Religion, folklore and witchcraft have borrowed heavily from the animal world, for they know that the qualities and energies of animals represent strength, power, devotion, intuition, intelligence and wisdom.

      ANIMISM

      Animism is rare today, but this very ancient way of perceiving the world may once have been universal. At the root of magic beliefs and practice, animism is the belief that every natural object, both living and non-living, has a spirit or life force and is endowed with reason and intelligence. The animist sees movement in trees, rocks, streams, wind and other objects and believes that everything is inhabited by its own spirit.

      Animism is found among many tribal societies throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. Having observed that during sleep and dreaming, visions and trances - what today we call out-of-body experiences - the spiritual part of a body could detach from the physical, animists deduced that it could also survive death. Instead of going to the land of the dead, the soul might take control of another person (possession) or send messages to the living through mediums or shamans. It might lodge in various features of the natural world such as trees or rocks, or in human objects such as spears or statues.

      Beliefs that a person may have more than a single soul are not unusual. For instance, among many Eskimo groups, a name is one type of soul. In societies that lived close to nature not only people but also animals and plants were thought to have souls, and human spirits might be reborn in animals (reincarnation). In some cases people may have a special affinity with certain species of animal, and the animistic beliefs concerning this human relationship to animals are known as totemism.

      For the animist, the world abounds with spirit entities. Water spirits and forest spirits are especially common, but animism is more than just a belief in soul and spirits; it has its own logic and consistency and in many respects can be called a religion.

      ANKOU

      Ankou is part of the fairy lore of the Celtic countries. He is thought to be the personification of death, who comes to collect the souls of humans when they die. Largely forgotten in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, Ankou remains a part of the living folklore in Brittany. Every parish in Brittany has its own ankou.

      An old Irish proverb says, When Ankou comes, he will not go away empty’ He is depicted as a tall, dark, haggard figure, wearing a black-robed costume pulled up high about his head and with a large hat that conceals his face. Legend has it that he is always preceded by a gust of wind and you cannot see his face, for if you do it means you have died. He is said to drive a small black coach drawn by four black horses and accompanied by two ghostly figures on foot. Many believe it is not really a coach at all but a hearse and that the job of the ghostly figures is to collect corpses and place them in the hearse.

      One legend says that Ankou was once a cruel prince who met up with Death in the forest and challenged him to a contest. The prince loved to hunt and kill, and on this particular night he was chasing a white stag (a magical animal in Celtic stories). The prince set out a challenge before the enormous, black-robed rider: whoever could kill the stag would not only keep the meat but also determine the fate of the loser. The stranger readily agreed, and it is said that his voice was raspy, like leaves scraping castle walls.

      They set off at a gallop, and the prince realized immediately that he was bested. No matter how hard he rode, the stranger rode faster. And when the prince was still stringing his bow, the stranger had already set loose his arrow and felled the stag.

      As the winded prince approached the stranger said, ‘You can have the stag - and all the dead of the world.’ The stranger sentenced him to an eternity of hunting the souls of all who died around the world.

      ANTIETAM

      The American Civil War battle of Antietam took place near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on 17 September 1862. Twenty-three thousand men were killed or wounded -the bloodiest single day of battle in American history - and ghosts and strange phenomena still greet visitors to the site today.

      George B McClellan, commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, had not yet been victorious for the Union because of his cautious tactics. Robert E Lee of the Confederate army therefore determined to occupy Northern territory and marched his men into Maryland.

      But Lee’s luck was about to run out. A copy of Lee’s field orders had been lost, just about the time Union soldiers spotted a small packet lying on the ground. Opening it, they found three cigars wrapped in paper. The cigars themselves were rare and valuable, but only later did they truly realize what they had: the paper wrapped around the cigars contained Lee’s field orders. McClellan went on the march.

      When the two sides came face to face at 5 am on the 17th, both generals were determined to make a stand and change the course of the war. The battle was fierce and frenzied. By late afternoon, thousands had died and, although both sides claimed a victory, in actuality it was a draw. It did change the course of the war, however, for Lee’s failure to successfully invade the North led to Britain postponing its recognition of the Confederate state.

      Today the battlefield looks much as it did all those years ago. Some woods have been cleared away and monuments erected, but you can stand on the site and perhaps experience what other visitors have reported - hearing the sound of gunfire and smelling the scent of gunpowder. One visitor to the park saw what he thought was a group of Confederate re-enactors, but realized his mistake when the company suddenly vanished from his sight.

      A school field trip became quite an experience for some of the children one spring day. After the guided tour, they were invited to wander the area of the bloody battle for a short time before their departure. Later they reported to their teacher that they had heard what sounded like chanting - like fa-la-la-la-la of ‘Deck the Halls’. The teacher, who was a Civil War buff, knew -but the children could not possibly have -that the war cry of the Irish Sixty-Ninth New York militia, which fought among the Union troops, was Faugh A Ballach, which in English is ‘Clear the Way!’ but in Gaelic is pronounced ‘Fah-ah-bah-lah’.

      The nearby Burnside Bridge, named after Major General Ambrose E Burnside, who held the bridge for the Union, also is said to be haunted, as is a local bed-and-breakfast.

      APANTOMANCY

      A method of divination by taking cues from chance meetings with animals, birds and other creatures. The superstition associated with a black cat crossing one’s path is apantomancy.

      APPARITION

      The supernatural appearance of a person, animal or object too far away to be seen, felt or heard by normal senses. Contrary to popular belief, most apparitions are of the living not the dead, but apparitions of the dead are also called ghosts.

      Only a small number of apparitions are visual; most apparition experiences feature noises, unusual smells, extreme cold or heat and the displacement of objects.

      Every civilization throughout history and around the world has held beliefs about apparitions. Among Asian peoples belief in ancestral ghosts is strong, and rituals exist to honour and placate them, as the spirits of the dead are thought to interfere regularly in the affairs of the living and are credited for both СКАЧАТЬ