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The real history of psychic powers
The history of psychic powers is not an easy subject to pin down. Mankind’s quest for knowledge of the subtle realms began many thousands of years ago, as depicted on cave drawings found in France, and it continues on today as new territories in the psychic worlds are found. The ability to sense and gain knowledge from these realms has been called by many names, as nearly every culture on earth has sought to develop their psychic powers for various reasons. This is definitely not a new modern phenomenon.
Over ten thousand years ago, tribal man encountered a harsh wilderness that he depended on for survival. Seeking greater success in the hunt, and methods of healing of maladies, some individuals discovered that they could relate to the world around them in more intuitive ways, sensing what plants could heal, for example, or dressing in animal skins to play out a hunt successfully before doing it. These methods proved successful, and these people, male and female were the first shamans, the first explorers of the psychic world. It is perhaps here that the history of psychic powers can be said to begin.
In time, as civilization developed and mankind left it’s hunter/gather roots, these old methods gave way to greater organization. Religions and various spiritual and mystery schools were created. Structured rituals were created, and information was written down to be passed from teacher to student. What was once gained through intuition and personal experience was now studied in a more scholarly fashion. The spirits and gods themselves were organized into pantheons and other groupings to facilitate such study. Although some put forth the idea that this weakened the intuitive experience by making it so categorized, the benefit is that more people became aware of their own inherent psychic potential.
Presently, there are several paths open to the seeker. The history of psychic powers is still being written as more people explore these realms, create new methods and resurrect old ones. New developments like NLP build on older more traditional techniques of meditation and visualization. Cultural revivals such as shamanism and Wicca introduce these older methods as well, usually updating them to make them more accessible to the modern mindset. Information is more readily available, replacing the old master student relationships with easily purchased books. The Internet, too, makes a wealth of knowledge as easy to find as using a search engine. Never in the history of psychic powers or any other discipline has information been so easy And each person that explores the psychic realms becomes a pioneer, adding to this rich tapestry.
