In my book Adventures of a Soul, I chronicle a number of “informal experiments” that I performed with the invisible world. For instance, I accumulated a posse of ten gifted psychics and mediums—whom I dubbed my “Dream Team”—and had readings with them every six months for several years, to see whether they delivered any of the same information. Another thing I did was to pose challenges to beings in spirit, asking them to manifest specific “signs” to show me they were truly “there.”
At the time that I was doing these “experiments,” and even years later when I was writing about them, I wasn’t aware of many others who shared my proclivity for testing out the invisible realms. Or at least not many who were writing about it. But that has begun to change. And I’m excited about that.
Case in point: Recently, I discovered The Test: Incredible Proof of the Afterlife, a fascinating book by best-selling French author Stéphane Allix—a former war correspondent, journalist, and documentary director, cofounder of the Institute for Research on Extraordinary Experiences (INREES), and definitely a kindred spirit in his earnest desire to investigate whether consciousness survives beyond bodily death. Apparently, his interest in the subject was initially sparked by the untimely loss of his brother. But the book centers around a test he constructed after his father’s death.
Allix secretly placed five objects in his father’s coffin before it was buried. Then he sought out six mediums to see if they could—ostensibly with the aid of his father—name the objects in question. I won’t give away the results, Reader, but of course, there would be no book if they hadn’t been provocative.
Allix questions the six pracitioners, just as I did, about how they work, how their information comes in, and what they’ve learned from their experiences. Particularly interesting to me were one of the medium’s views on how schizophrenia may relate to mediumship—a question I’ve pondered myself.
Alas, the fantastic-looking INREES Web site (you know I had to check that out, Reader) is entirely in French . . . sacré blue! While learning French has always been on my bucket list, for now, I’ll have to satisfy myself with another intriguing-sounding Allix book available in English, When I Was Someone Else: The Incredible True Story of Past Life Connection.
I hope Allix’s book, and mine, will inspire you to conduct some “tests” of your own, if you haven’t already. Be prepared for some intriguing adventures!