life force, a universal medium. It fits all space and penetrates all matter. It is everything, and everything is in it.
Hindu philosophy interprets the akasha as the ether, the fifth element that permeates the universe, acting as an agent through which electromagnetic forces operate. In the practice of Yoga, the akasha is one of the three universal principles, along with prana (breath of life) and creative mind; the three are all sources of psychic power. From akasha comes will, which makes anything possible.
In Buddhism the akasha is space, both space that is bound to the material world and space that is infinite. Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, introduced this notion to the West and compared the akasha to other forms of the universal life force, such as the sidereal light of the Rosicrucians, the Hebrew ruah or moving spirit and the quin-tessance or luminous fifth element, invisible to humans, which binds the other four elements. Blavatsky suggested that the akasha forms the world soul, or anima mundi, and produces mesmeric operations of nature.
AKASHIC RECORDS
Akashic is a Sanskrit word meaning the fundamental etheric substance of the universe. According to Theosophy, the Akashic Records, or Book of Life, is extrasensory information that exists in another dimension, like the ultimate cosmic library. The records contain information on all world events and all thoughts and deeds that have taken place or will take place on earth. They may be read only by adepts. Rudolf Steiner, for example, claimed to have consulted the Akashic Records for his descriptions of Atlantis. Edgar Cayce also claimed to have seen the Book of Life. Some psychics say they consult the Akashic Records through clairvoyance or during out-of-body experiences.
The Akashic Records are also called the Universal Memory of Nature, and it is thought that everyone has an inherent ability to see his or her own book and all the things they have done or felt in life. It is simply a matter of developing the psychic ability.
The process of consulting the Records is described by psychics as like visiting an enormous library and looking up information in books. Some say they are greeted by doorkeepers or spirit guides who assist them in finding the correct information. The books are kept in rows, line upon line, stack upon stack, corridor upon corridor. Some books are charred, turned up at the edges and blackened, as if they have been pulled out of a fire, some are beautifully illuminated scrolls, and others are embossed in gold leaf with pages in rainbow colours. Yet others are bound in red leather with special emblems.
ALAMO
The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a landmark that is believed to be truly haunted. Originally a chapel built in 1718 by monks, the Alamo was later expanded into a fortress for Texans to use as a stronghold against the Mexicans in the battle over land rights. In March 1836 the President of Mexico, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, and 4,000 troops laid siege to the Alamo. The 11-day battle led to the deaths of almost all the 188 defenders of the Alamo and 1,600 Mexicans. The victorious General López ordered the bodies of the dead Texans to be dumped in a large grave and the Alamo to be torn to the ground. Legend has it that when the Mexicans tried to tear down the walls, ghostly hands extended to stop them and they fled in terror.
Today the suffering of those who died has not been forgotten. There have been several sightings of grotesque apparitions coming from the walls of the Alamo, and screaming and yelling at night as if the terrible events of 1836 are replayed over and over again. There are other reports of a ghost on top of the Alamo, walking back and forth as if trying to escape.
See Residual haunting.
ALCATRAZ
Alcatraz, the harshest, loneliest and most haunted of America’s federal prisons, is located on a dark and damp rock in San Francisco Bay. The story of Alcatraz does not begin or end with the use of the rock as a prison - the island was known to Native Americans as a place that contained evil spirits. Many believe that an evil energy still remains to this day. As parapsycholo-gists suggest, where so much trauma and negative emotion has occurred there is bound to be residual energy, and Alcatraz has the feel of an immense haunted house, complete with fog and restless spirits, despite the fact that Alcatraz was closed as a prison in 1963, and today is maintained by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area as a tourist attraction.
Alcatraz, originally named La Isla de Los Altraces (The Island of the Pelicans), was first an army fort and prison. In 1934 it was turned into a maximum-security federal penitentiary where convicts were sent solely for punishment, not rehabilitation. Conditions were terrible and escape impossible. Many inmates were driven insane; others preferred to kill themselves rather than endure the brutal conditions.
Since the prison’s closing no visual apparitions have been seen, but guards and tour guides have reported feelings of sudden intensity pervading the cells and corridors, the sound of men’s voices, whistling, clanging metal doors, screams, the running of feet down corridors and anxious feelings of being watched. Some of the more haunted locations on Alcatraz appear to be the warden’s house, the hospital, the laundry room, and Cell Block C utility door, where three convicts and three guards died in an attempted escape in 1946. The most haunted area, however, is the punishment block - D Block, or solitary, as it was called. Some guides refuse to go there alone. The cells reportedly remain intensely cold, even if it is a hot day.
To this day visitors continue to report feeling strange on their visit to Alcatraz, although some acknowledge their reaction might be influenced by their knowledge of the misery and suffering that went on there.
ALCHEMY
The term alchemy, commonly believed to refer to attempts to change base metals into gold, covers a wide range of topics -from the discovery of a single cure for all diseases to the quest for immortality, from the creation of artificial life to straightforward descriptions of scientific techniques. Broadly, one could describe alchemy as the art of converting that which is base, both in the material and spiritual world, into something more perfect. Symbolically, alchemy is the mystical art for human spiritual transformation into a higher form of being.
The spiritual teachings of alchemy were based on the idea that humans have a spirit or soul as well as a physical body, and it was thought that if the spirit could be compressed or concentrated, the secret of changing one aspect of nature into another could be discovered. The elusive catalyst that allowed this change to take place is known as the philosopher’s stone, which is not a stone but a powder or liquid that turned base metal into gold and, when swallowed, gave everlasting life.
Alchemists are often pictured as stirring a bubbling concoction of base metal on a fire, hoping it will turn to gold. However, not all alchemists were like this, and some of the best minds of the last twenty or so centuries have studied alchemy as a way to unlock the secrets of nature.
Alchemy probably first emerged in ancient Egypt and China. In China it was purported to transmute base metals into gold, and the gold so produced was thought to have the ability to cure disease and prolong life. In Egypt the methods of transmutation were kept secret by temple priests. Western alchemy has its basis in the skills of those Egyptian priests, Eastern mysticism and the Aristotelian theory of the composition of matter. Aristotle, following the theory of Empedocles, taught that all matter was composed of four elements: water, fire, earth and air. Different materials found in nature contained different ratios
