Kikayon is the Hebrew name of a plant mentioned in the biblical Book of Jonah. God causes the plant to grow over Jonah’s shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant’s root and it withers. Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and desires that God take him out of the world.

The kikayon is only referenced in the book of Jonah and there is some question as to what kind of plant it is. Some hypotheses include a gourd and a castor oil plant. The concurrent Hebrew usage of the word refers to the castor oil plant.

It has been theorized that the description may indicate an entheogenic mushroom such as fly agaric. Mushrooms grow and wither very rapidly, were uncultivated in ancient times due to the invisibility of mushroom spores to the naked eye, and in some cultures the fly agaric mushroom is associated with and named after an umbrella or parasol because of its shape.

Paradoxically, the red cap of fly agaric was also associated with the sun due to its round shape and color. When the mushroom cap is dried its color changes from red to gold, like the sun rising in the sky. The sun beating on Jonah’s head and causing him to become faint describes the effects of fly agaric intoxication.

The phrase plastic shaman is a pejorative colloquialism used for individuals who try to pass themselves off as shamans, or other traditional spiritual leaders, but who actually have no genuine connection to the traditions they claim to represent. Rather, plastic shamans use the mystique of these cultural traditions, and the legitimate curiosity of sincere seekers, for personal gain. This exploitation of students and traditional culture can involve the selling of fake spiritual ceremonies, fake artifacts, fictional accounts in books, illegitimate tours of sacred sites, and often the chance to buy spiritual titles.

Though the term plastic shaman originated among Native American and First Nations activists, and is most often applied to people posing as Native American medicine men and women, the term has also been applied to those posing as other types of traditional and alternative healers. People who have been referred to as plastic shamans include fraudulent spiritual advisors, seers, psychics, or other practitioners of non-traditional modalities of spirituality and healing who are operating on a fraudulent basis.

Critics of those who have been called plastic shamans believe one danger is that students who come to learn from plastic shamans may be exposing themselves to physical, as well as psychological and emotional risk. This is because the methods used by a fraudulent teacher may have been invented, adapted or stolen from other cultures and taught without reference to a real tradition, or to the precautions such a tradition would normally have in place in regard to sacred ceremonies and guidelines for ethical behavior.

Those using the term plastic shaman to describe these sorts of fraudulent teachers and exploiters of traditional cultures believe plastic shamans are also dangerous because they harm the reputations of the cultures and communities they claim to represent. There is evidence that fraudulent and sometimes criminal acts have been committed by a number of these imposters. They commit financial fraud and thus victomize participants. It is also claimed by traditional peoples that in some cases these plastic shamans may be using corrupt, negative and sometimes harmful aspects of authentic practices.

Miraculous resurrection of one type or another has been a recurrent theme or central doctrine of many religions. The accounts represent the resurrection of individuals, as well as a general resurrection of humanity. Christianity also uses the term to refer to God’s resurrection of Jesus. Accounts of resurrection also occur in other religious traditions.

The earliest known recurrent theme of resurrection was in ancient Egyptian religion and it was especially focused upon an individual in the cults of Isis and Osiris. A cyclic dying-and-rising god motif was prevalent throughout ancient Mesopotamian and classical literature and practice.

There are stories in Buddhism where the power of resurrection has been demonstrated on at least two famous occasions in Chan or Zen Buddhist tradition. One is the famous resurrection story of Bodhidharma, the Indian master who brought the Ekayana school of India to China that subsequently became Chan Buddhism.

In the literal sense of the word, resurrection refers to the event of a dead person completely returning to life. Thus, it is not to be confused with things like immortality in which the soul continues to live after death, free of the body.

The resurrection of Jesus is the central doctrine in Christianity. The day of Jesus’ resurrection is actually the 3rd day after Passover, which was the day that Jesus died, fullfilling all of the prophesies concerning the Lamb of God that would pay the cost for the sins of the world. Passover was the day when the Hebrew people would bring a lamb for sacrifice that would attone for the sins of their households.

The word Easter is not from any accurate translaltion, as it was placed into the bible by the Roman government during their inaccuate translation concerning the resurrection. Cultural elements, such as the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts, have become part of the holiday’s modern celebrations, and those aspects are often celebrated by many non-Christians as well. There are also some Christian denominations that do not celebrate Easter.

The resurrected Jesus Christ commissioned his followers to, among other things, raise the dead. Throughout Christian history up to the present day there have been various accounts of Christians raising people from the dead. In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus is said to have raised several persons from death, including the daughter of Jairus shortly after death, a young man in the midst of his own funeral procession, and Lazarus, who had been buried for four days.

Traditionally, Easter eggs, hard-boiled eggs dyed bright red to symbolize the spilt Blood of Christ and the promise of eternal life, are cracked together to celebrate the opening of the Tomb of Christ.

Transhumanism is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities. The movement regards aspects of the human condition, such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and involuntary death as unnecessary and undesirable. Transhumanists look to biotechnologies and other emerging technologies for these purposes. Dangers, as well as benefits, are also of concern to the transhumanist movement.

Although the first known use of the term dates from 1957, the contemporary meaning is a product of the 1980s when futurists in the United States began to organize what has since grown into the transhumanist movement. Transhumanist thinkers predict that human beings may eventually be able to transform themselves into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label posthuman”. Transhumanism is therefore sometimes referred to as a form of transformational activism influenced by posthumanist ideals.

Although some transhumanists report a strong sense of secular spirituality, they are for the most part atheists. A minority of transhumanists, however, follow liberal forms of Eastern philosophical traditions such as Buddhism and Yoga or have merged their transhumanist ideas with established Western religions such as liberal Christianity or Mormonism. Despite the prevailing secular attitude, some transhumanists pursue hopes traditionally espoused by religions, such as immortality.

Several controversial new religious movements, originating in the late 20th century, have explicitly embraced transhumanist goals of transforming the human condition by applying technology to the alteration of the mind and body. However, most thinkers associated with the transhumanist movement focus on the practical goals of using technology to help achieve longer and healthier lives, while speculating that future understanding of neurotheology and the application of neurotechnology will enable humans to gain greater control of spiritual experiences, and thus achieve more profound self knowledge.

Transhumanist thought and research depart significantly from the mainstream and often directly challenges orthodox theories. The very notion and prospect of human enhancement and related issues also arouse public controversy. Criticisms of transhumanism and its proposals take two main forms: those objecting to the likelihood of transhumanist goals being achieved, and those objecting to the moral principles or world view sustaining transhumanist proposals or underlying transhumanism itself. However, these two strains sometimes converge and overlap, particularly when considering the ethics of changing human biology in the face of incomplete knowledge.

Critics or opponents often see transhumanist goals as posing threats to human values. Some also argue that strong advocacy of a transhumanist approach to improving the human condition might divert attention and resources from social solutions. Sometimes there are strong disagreements about the very principles involved, with divergent views on humanity, human nature, and the morality of transhumanist aspirations. 

One transhumanist solution proposed by Nick Bostrom is differential technological development, in which attempts would be made to influence the sequence in which technologies developed. In this approach, planners would strive to retard the development of possibly harmful technologies and their applications, while accelerating the development of likely beneficial technologies, especially those that offer protection against the harmful effects of others.

Neodruidism is a form of modern spirituality or religion that promotes harmony and worship of nature, along with respect for all beings and the environment. It is considered to be a Neopagan faith by some adherents, along with such religions as Wicca and Neopaganism. By other modern druids it is considered to be a philosophical movement that includes religious tolerance, allowing its followers to be adherents of other religions, or even atheism.

The dominant belief in Druidism is the idea that the earth and nature is sacred and is worthy of worship in itself. For this reason some modern Druids are pantheistic, seeing the natural world as being divine itself. It is unknown if pantheism and direct nature worship were a part of ancient Celtic polytheism. There is no clear historical or archaeological evidence one way or the other.

Some modern druids practice meditation and visualization as a method of self transformation, particularly engaging the imagery of the four elements of the classical philosophers and the medieval alchemists. Earth, air, fire, and water are considered symbolic of aspects of nature and are sometimes linked symbolically to the four cardinal directions, the four seasons, and the four stages of human life: birth, maturation, old age, and death. Elemental symbolism is fluid and varies from group to group. Some modern druids believe that the ancient Celts did not adopt the Greek system of four elements and prefer to use only a symbolic division of the cosmos into three realms: Sea (the lower realm), Land (the middle realm), and Sky (the upper realm).

The Neopagan branch of Druidism in the United States can be traced to one particular root in the Reformed Druids of North America, which was founded by protesting college students. The history of this organization is interesting and one of the best documented histories of any druidic organization.

The founding of the first congregation of the Reformed Druids of North America in 1963 proved influential in giving birth to other Neopagan organizations. Carleton College’s requirement that each student participate regularly in religious services caused a minor rebellion of several students who started calling themselves druids. This religion was designed mainly to annoy and challenge the college administration and its attempt to enforce particular religious sects. 

This tiny movement came to be called The Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA), a pun on the genetic molecule. Despite its jocular culture, Celtic mythology, spiritual eclecticism, more general countercultural agitation, and easygoing self irony were also important themes by the time the religious requirement was rescinded in 1964. The loss of the specific protest motivation did not weaken the RDNA, which still exists today.

It was later developed into actual religious practices. These retained much of the humor with which the Carleton druids were founded but became increasingly seen as a legitimate spiritual pursuit by its founders, one which permitted the students of a largely Episcopalian college to explore their own consciences.

The Ancient Order of Druids in America, established in 1912, considers Druidry as a path of nature spirituality and inner transformation founded on personal experience rather than dogmatic belief. It is a church in the original sense of the word, a community of people following a spiritual path together. It welcomes men and women of all national origins, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and affiliations with other Druidic and spiritual traditions. Ecological awareness and commitment to an earth-honoring lifestyle, celebration of the cycles of nature through seasonal ritual, and personal development through meditation and other spiritual exercises form the core of its work. Involvement in the arts, healing practices, and traditional esoteric studies are among its applications and expressions.

John Michael Greer currently serves as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, a position he has held since 2002. He is an author, historian of ideas, Hermeticist and Druid who resides in Ashland, Oregon.

His first book, Paths of Wisdom, a study of the Golden Dawn system of Qabalah, was published in 1996, and has been followed by many other books on magical and esoteric traditions and their histories, including an encyclopedic work on secret societies, The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Hidden History. Forthcoming titles will cover an exploration of UFO phenomenologies and histories, and esoteric Western Physical Culture. He has practiced gardening, Tai Chi and related internal arts for decades.

Greer has shown an interest in oil and other resource depletion, which he believes will bring about fundamental, global changes in societies for centuries to come.

EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomena, are sections of static noise on the radio or electronic recording which some listeners believe sound like voices speaking words, and which paranormal investigators interpret as the voices of ghosts or spirits. Recording EVP has become a technique of those who attempt to contact the souls of dead loved ones or during ghost hunting activities. In addition to deceased spirits, various paranormal investigators say that EVP could be produced by psychic echoes from the past, psychokinesis unconsciously produced by living people, and aliens. According to parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, who popularized the idea, EVP are typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase.

Those who believe in the existence of EVP as a paranormal manifestation have a number of beliefs as to what EVP may possibly be. Common explanations include living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis and communication by discarnate entities such as spirits, nature energies, beings from other dimensions, or extraterrestrials.

As the Spiritualism religious movement became prominent in the 1840s–1920s with a distinguishing belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by mediums, new technologies of the era including photography were employed by spiritualists in an effort to demonstrate contact with a spirit worl. So popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits. He replied that if the spirits were only capable of subtle influences, a sensitive recording device would provide a better chance of spirit communication than the table tipping and ouija boards mediums employed at the time. However, there is no indication that Edison ever designed or constructed a device for such a purpose. As sound recording became widespread, mediums explored using this technology to demonstrate communication with the dead as well. Despite the eventual decline of Spiritualism through the latter part of the 20th century, attempts to use portable recording devices and modern digital technologies to demonstrate life after death continued to be promoted in popular culture and by a cadre of dedicated believers.

In 1980, William O’Neil constructed an electronic audio device called The Spiricom. O’Neil claimed the device was built to specifications which he received psychically from George Mueller, a scientist who had died six years previously. At a Washington, DC, press conference on April 6, 1982, O’Neil stated that he was able to hold two-way conversations with spirits through the Spiricom device, and provided the design specifications to researchers for free. However, nobody is known to have replicated O’Neil’s results using their own Spiricom devices. O’Neil’s partner, retired industrialist George Meek, attributed O’Neil’s success, and the inability of others to replicate it, to O’Neil’s psychic abilities forming part of the loop that made the system work.

Since EVP has been ignored and derided as fiction by the scientific community and is not generally studied by academic researchers, there is no singular consensus on what all EVP are. However, there are a number of straightforward scientific explanations that can account for why some listeners to the static on audio devices may believe they hear voices, including radio interference and the tendency of the human brain to recognize patterns in random stimuli. A percentage of recordings may be hoaxes created by frauds or pranksters.

The very first EVP recordings may have originated from the use of tape recording equipment with poorly aligned erasure and recording heads, resulting in previous audio recordings not being completely erased. This could allow a small percentage of previous content to be superimposed or mixed into a new silent recording.

Interference, for example, is seen in certain EVP recordings, especially those recorded on devices which contain RLC circuitry. These cases represent radio signals of voices or other sounds from broadcast sources. Interference from CB Radio transmissions and wireless baby monitors, or anomalies generated though cross modulation from other electronic devices, are all documented phenomena. It is even possible for circuits to resonate without any internal power source by means of radio reception.

Capture errors are anomalies created by the method used to capture audio signals, such as noise generated through the over amplification of a signal at the point of recording.

Artifacts created during attempts to boost the clarity of an existing recording might explain some EVP. Methods include resampling, frequency isolation, and noise reduction or enhancement, which can cause recordings to take on qualities significantly different from those that were present in the original recording.

Portable digital voice recorders are currently the technology of choice for EVP investigators. Since these devices are very susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) contamination, EVP enthusiasts sometimes try to record EVP in RF and sound screened rooms. Nevertheless, in order to record EVP there has to be noise in the audio circuits of the device used to produce the EVP. For this reason, those who attempt to record EVP often use two recorders that have differing quality audio circuitry and rely on noise heard from the poorer quality instrument to generate EVP.

A few German enthusiasts coined the term Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) to refer more generally to communication through any sort of electronic device such as tape recorders, fax machines, television sets or computers between spirits or other discarnate entities and the living. One particularly famous claimed incidence of ITC occurred when the image of EVP enthusiast Friedrich Jurgenson, whose funeral was held that day, was said to have appeared on a television in the home of a colleague, which had been purposefully tuned to a vacant channel. ITC enthusiastists also investigate TV and video camera feedback transmission loops.

Some EVP enthusiasts describe hearing the words in EVP as an ability, much like learning a new language. Skeptics say that the claimed instances are all either hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena. Neither EVP nor ITC are researched within the scientific community and, as ideas, are generally derided by scientists when asked.