How To: Séance

Here's How To Conduct A Seance:

A séance is a meeting at which a spiritualist attempts to receive communications from the spirits of the dead. Here's how:

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: 30 minutes plus

Here's How:

1. Assemble the participants. Gather the people who will participate. Some say the number of participants must be divisible by three. But this does not seem to be an absolute rule. No fewer than three people should attempt a séance.

2. Choose a medium. You might want to choose a medium among the participants. This could be a person who has had experience with séances or someone who tends to have psychic abilities.

3. Use a round or oval table. This helps create the symbolic circle believed necessary for the ritual.

4. Set the table. In the center of the table, place some kind of simple, natural aromatic food, such as bread or soup. This is believed to help attract the spirits who still seek physical nourishment.

5. Light candles. Also in the center of the table, place no fewer than three candles (or a number divisible by three) lit candles; the more candles, the better. Spirits still seek warmth and light.

6. Create some atmosphere. Dim the lights and eliminate any distractions, such as music and television.

7. Join hands. Seated around the table, the participants must all join hands in a circle.

8. Summon the spirit. The participants must speak these words together: "Our beloved [name of spirit], we bring you gifts from life into death. Commune with us, (name of spirit), and move among us."

9. Wait for a response. If none comes, repeat the chant until the spirit responds.

10. Communicate. If and when the spirit responds -- either by rapping or some other means, or through the medium - ask your questions.

11. Begin simply. Ask yes and no questions at first -- one rap for no, two raps for yes, for example.

12. Communicate directly. If a spirit chooses to speak through the medium, you may ask any kind of question.

13. Maintain control. If the séance seems to be getting out of hand, end the séance by breaking the circle of hands, extinguishing the candles and turning on the lights.

14. End the séance. When you're done with your questioning, thank the spirit for joining you and tell them to go in peace. Break the circle of hands and extinguish the candles.

Tips:

1. Don't allow participants who you don't think could handle a séance psychologically. Children, for example, must never participate.

What You Need:

• table
• food
• candles

Yeti in the News

A group of explorers believe they have found fresh evidence of the existence of the Yeti.

An expedition team who went in search of the mythical creature in the Nepalese Himalayas for a US television documentary claim they have found giant footprints of the so-called abominable snowman.

The team of nine armed with infrared cameras, spent a week in the icy Khumbu region near to Mount Everest.

They say they found three fresh footprints on lumps of sandy soil - one of which was about a foot long - which are currently being analysed by experts in the States.

It has never been scientifically proven that the Yeti actually exists, but there have been many reported sightings of wild and hairy creatures lurking in the Himalayas.

And many sherpa porters have had plenty of tales to tell about them to foreign mountain climbers on Mount Everest ever since the 1920s.