Anthony North: We"ve all heard of fate, but what is it? To some it is a force in the universe that influences you, driving you towards a life preordained. Whilst to others, it is a superstition, a fallacy -something that doesn"t exist. I don"t like the former -it suggests that you have no free will, and without this, what is the point of choice? But on saying this, I don"t like the latter either. It is too reductionist, ignoring the experiences of many of us. Is there a coming together of the tw...

Anthony North: I"ve studied the history and practice of psychical phenomena for some 25 years now, and in that time, certain patterns of behaviour have presented themselves that suggest a typical path to becoming a psychic. Theories on what ‘psychic" is vary. Some say it is a power that is being lost, whilst others that it is growing. Some say it is of a supernatural nature, whilst others say it is in the mind. Such ideas often obscure psychics themselves.: What I"ll try to do here is bring th...

The evocative question "Is there anybody there?" conjures up images of mediums summoning spirits in a darkened room. But now psychics must add a few riders before they invoke the voices of the dead, thanks to new consumer laws due to come into force. Breathless audiences are now likely to be asked: "Is there anybody here... who is vulnerable, of nervous disposition, or likely to sue?"Indeed, a whole list of disclaimers must be added to the spiritualists" spiel if they are to avoid an avalanche o...

Anthony North: As the new series of Doctor Who aired its first episode last night, it might be instructive to look at why it is so successful. And the simple fact is, whether consciously or unconsciously, the writers, including Russell T Davies, have rebirthed one of the earliest known psychic forms. This all revolves around the character of Doctor Who himself. For instance, several things are peculiar about him. The first is his apparent amorality. Whilst he is always saving the world, his mora...

Britain"s spymasters became convinced that astrology could hold the key to the defeat of Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, it has emerged. Secret files released by the National Archives show how intelligence chiefs were hoodwinked into recruiting a bogus Hungarian nobleman to study the Nazi leader"s horoscope in the hope of penetrating his military plans.Despite warnings from the Security Service, MI5, that Louis de Wohl was a "charlatan", he managed to persuade senior figures in the int...

A woman claims to have undergone a complete "personality transplant" after receiving a new kidney.Cheryl Johnson, 37, says she has changed completely since receiving the organ in May. She believes that she must have picked up her new characteristics from the donor, a 59-year-old man who died from an aneurysm.Now, not only has her personality changed, the single mother also claims that her tastes in literature have taken a dramatic turn. Whereas she only used to read low-brow novels, Dostoevsky h...

Anthony North: Of all the writers and researchers that have influenced me, none have been more important than Colin Wilson. Up to the age of 27 I"d never really thought of the paranormal, or writing, for that matter. But it all changed when I came down with chronic fatigue syndrome. My life had to change, become slower, quieter, and I thought, for the first time, about being a writer. However, I"d left school at fifteen, and had little in the way of education. Hence, I decided to educate myself....

Natalie wells talks to Danny Penman: "We watched the last of the balloons drift off into the distance before we could bear to leave the crematorium. I hugged my mum and dad and said it was time to go. We were all blubbering and doing our best to face up to life without my younger brother David.   He"d been killed in a car crash a few days earlier. He was just 19. No age at all. It was so cruel.   Dozens of his friends and family had been at the funeral to say goodbye. David loved balloons so we ...

Danny Penman: The last time I died was in Jerusalem in 1276. Pope Gregory X's Crusade against Islam had collapsed and the Christians of the city would soon be abandoned to their fate. My final hours were filled with death. I was besieged in a beautiful vaulted church along with 100 knights. Smokey candlelight glinted off their armour. Some knights were praying, others resting. As dawn broke over the city they readied themselves for the final conflict with an implacable foe. Even the most dev...

Danny Penman: Christeen Skinner blinks at the screen of her computer and takes another slurp of coffee. It"s half past seven in the morning and she"s preparing for a crucial meeting with the chief executive of the High and Mighty fashion chain. Apart from the black cat dozing on her lap, the only clue to Christeen"s occupation as a 21st century astrologer is a copy of an Ephemeris that lies open at a page marked "Mercury March 25th". "The financial crisis has ensured that I"m busier than ever," ...

Anthony North: Psychiatrist Arthur Guirdham wrote extensively about a patient; a ‘Mrs Smith." Going to Guirdham following nightmares in her early 30s, she began having memories of being a member of the sect, the Cathars, in 13th century France. Mrs Smith had suffered inexplicable blackouts since she was thirteen, describing them as if she was ‘going out of time." The knowledge she woke up with allowed her to write down the lyrics of an old medieval song in an obscure French dialect. Her therapy ...

Anthony North: On a night we dream, yet so often we are unaware of our dreams. Should we be sleeping lightly at the time, dream recall is possible, and often, those who keep a dream diary can find precognitive elements in their dreams. Of course, the central question, here, is this: are these dreams really precognitive, in that they see into the future, or do our unconscious thoughts provide imagery and conclusion on decisions we are trying to make? The latter suggests we decide our future in su...

University of queensland researchers have unlocked new evidence that could help them get to the bottom of our most common phobias and their causes. Hundreds of thousands of people count snakes and spiders among their fears, and while scientists have previously assumed we possess an evolutionary predisposition to fear the unpopular animals, researchers at UQ"s School of Psychology may have proved otherwise. According to Dr Helena Purkis, the results of the UQ study could provide an unprecedented ...

Danny Penman: By the time consultant psychiatrist Dr Alan Sanderson began treating Peter for ‘demonic possession" his life had already fallen apart. Peter Johnson, a 50-year-old career civil servant, had once been a model citizen. He lived a quiet middle-class life in South East England. He worked hard, loved gardening and adored his wife Joan. There was nothing unusual in his life in any way. But then came Askinra - a ‘demon" that ate into his soul and took over his life. "It was as if I had an...

The key to happiness may lie in your genes. Psychologists at the University of Edinburgh and the Queensland Institute for Medical Research in Australia have found that happiness is partly determined by personality traits that are largely hereditary, along with your situation in life. The researchers used a personality test called the Five-Factor Model on more than 990 twin pairs. Matching that with happiness data taken from the pairs, they found that people who do not excessively worry, and who ...

Dr. Edgar Mitchell: We have all asked questions like: Who am I? How did I get here? What is my purpose in life? How did this body come together with this mind, perception and awareness? Most of us allow these heavy, seemingly unanswerable questions to glide by while we stay busy living our lives. But for some seekers, the pursuit of greater knowledge becomes a lifelong quest. It has been a decade since The Way of the Explorer was first published, and the rush of civilization toward a tipping po...