Annette Martin Training (From Chapter Three of Psi Development
Systems)

Annette Martin, who claims to have had psychic experiences since
childhood, teaches a series of popular psychic development classes in
the San Francisco Bay Area. Martin herself is well known as a psychic
reader and has also worked with medical doctors. One of her
specialties is psychic medical diagnosis. Although she has
established a reputation for responsibility within the professional
community and tests of her abilities have been conducted (May 1978),
no medical studies of her abilities have been published in scholarly
form. The newspaper article by Antoinette May, previously cited,
described a test conducted by Dr. Gerald Jampolsky in which Martin
apparently used ESP to diagnose the condition of a patient whose
history was unknown to her. Ile diagnosis was both detailed and
accurate, although conditions were not such as to preclude normal
sensory communication.

Martin attributes her apparent success as a psychic reader partially
to her early theatre training which she describes thus: "The theatre
training gave me the capability of jumping into another person's
body. It allowed me to just let go, relax and become another person….
My teacher would tell me to always remember about the little ball
made up of white light. This little ball came from my chest area,
around my heart, out to the audience. She'd tell me, `They're going
to take it into their heart and then send it back to you. I always
want you to remember that. You send that little white ball to them
and they will always send it back to you.' I feel that that is a real
foundation there, dealing with the psychic white light."

In addition to this experience, Martin claims to have been under the
guidance of various spirit guides since childhood. A unique feature
of Annette Martin's talents is that she claims to be working under
the direct guidance of the spirit of the deceased Edgar Cayce, the
well known Virginia Beach psychic.

It was the spirit of Cayce, Martin claims, who directed her to begin
teaching classes in psychic development and who even outlined for her
the teaching program which she uses. She described her training
techniques as follows:

"Mr. Cayce gave me a strict rule of thumb of the things they are to
do in which order so as to slowly progress, step by step, just like a
baby. The baby doesn't walk until he can crawl. The meditations
become more complex from week to week. At first, I lay my students on
the floor and teach them self-hypnosis to relax their bodies. As I go
on, I have them sit up and do longer meditations. Then I go into
doing a sound, the OM, and having them feeling the sound come from
the chest area and resonate through the whole body. We use psychic
white light a great deal, sending it to other individuals or to
different places inside our own bodies. Combined with the meditation
exercises are tests of psychic ability.

"We start out by sending an emotion, then color, then comes a scene,
then we look at a magazine picture that I have cut out and they send
that, then they draw a picture, then we do psychometry. We spend a
lot of time on psychometry. They get to perform in front of the group
and get rid of all the inhibitions that they have about that. From
there, I have them bring in objects that belong to other people. Then
I have paintings that I have all covered up. They get to choose the
paintings that they want to hold and they tell me what the painting
looks likecolors, the name of the painter, what country it is from.
They get instantaneous feedback.

"Mr. Edgar Cayce is always there when I teach. Last night, for
example, I did six medical readings on my students. I do not usually
do that. But as we were going around getting feedback about what
happened to them, it just started spontaneously. The information
which I give them from Mr. Edgar Cayce is always exactly what they
need to hear at that moment. They trust me. These readings are part
of the training, but I don't plan on it. Whenever they need it, it is
given.

Martin believes that her own psychic abilities are important the
teaching process. She states that she is watching her students
psychically all of the time and therefore knows exactly what to say
at any moment to produce a desired effect. She adds that her presence
seems to help the students, and they do not generally do as well
practicing the ESP tests at home as they do in the class. She also
adds that the work of watching her students so intensely during the
class is very exhausting.

It is interesting to note that there are several texts which purport
to present Edgar Cayce's views on psychic training (Bro 1970,
Patterson & Shelly 1975, Thurston 1977). These books are all very
involved, incorporating notions of religion, spirit guides and
reincarnation and not very similar at all to the straightforward and
logically progressive system used by Martin.

Martin claims that her own abilities are still being trained directly
by her spirit guides. She states that when they tell her what to
do, "I follow it to the letter. If I don't listen, they will shout at
me or even cause me to see the message written on a wall. There is
not a lot of room for improvising." She adds that she takes a similar
attitude with her students, and also expects them to follow her
instructions precisely, which they usually do because "they feel the
love, the security, and the trust."

Other than the extensive reliance on the postulated spirit presence
of Edgar Cayce, Martin's training program is very similar to that of
Alan Vaughan, relying primarily on simple meditation techniques and
informal tests in class with feedback. While verifiable psi results
are emphasized, there exist no data regarding psi other than the
testimony of individual students. Classes such as those of Martin
and, it may be safe to presume, the thousands of similar ones
throughout the world, can provide ideal situations for field studies,
and experiments of the psi learning process.



References

Bro, H.H. Edgar Cayce on religion and psychic experience. New York:
Paperback Library, 1970.

May, A. Medicine and the medium. San Francisco Sunday Examiner and
Chronicle Magazine, July 30, 1978, p. 4.

Patterson, D.T., and Shelly, V.M. Be your own psychic. Virginia
Beach, Va.: Edgar Cayce Foundation, 1975.

Thurston, M.A. Understand and develop your ESP. Virginia Beach, Va.:
Edgar Cayce Foundation, 1977.




Russian Psychic Training

Ever since the publicjation of Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron
Curtain by Ostrander and Schroeder in 1970, the notion has been
popular that Soviet parapsychologists have developed sophisticated
techniques for training psi abilities. Ostrander and Schroeder cited
several instances of apparent psi training. According to them
training has focused on the telepathic sender. Techniques include
surrounding the sender with weak electromagnetic fields, stimulating
certain acupuncture points with needles, and mental suggestions.
Instances are reported of Soviet laboratory psychics who trained
themselves through persistent practice of various psi tasks. One
prominently mentioned psi research subject, Karl Nikolaiev, had his
friends hide objects and then telepathically direct hint to find
them. Nikolaiev also credited the development of his psi skills to
his training in yogic breathing exercises. Another subject, Alex
Monin, trained himself by attempting to induce itching in various
innocent bystanders as he sat on a park bench.

In Handbook of Psi Discoveries (1974), Ostrander and Schroeder
highlighted a technique for inducing telepathy which they claimed was
developed by Vladimir Fidelman, "a psi investigator at the Bio-
Information Section of Moscow's Popov Institute." Insufficient data
to evaluate this experiment are provided. The technique involves
placing the target object in such a manner that it is illuminated by
a flashing light. The telepathic sender then concentrates on the
target in a rhythmic manner along with the light. According to
Ostrander and Schroeder, Fidelman's senders, using numbers as
targets, "successfully transmitted 100 out of 134 numbers to a
receiver over a mile away." Ostrander and Schroeder claim that
the "teleflasher" is an excellent way to get successful telepathy
results and their book devoted considerable attention to it (along
with other party games, given an ESP twist for training).

Victor Adamenko (1976), a Soviet biophysicist who is also a member of
the Parapsychological Association, has reported in a paper,
translated by A. J. Lewis, that he has developed means of training
subjects in "electrical telekinesis." This is a process of moving
small objects by virtue of an electrostatic field buil up in the
body. Adamenko claims that the ability of these subjects improved
under hypnosis. At the beginning of his experiments subjects charged
themselves by rubbing their hands against the surface of a dialectric
cube. Eventually they learned how to effect their own body charge
without such exercises.

A review of this research by Wortz et al. (1976) prepared under
Contract No. XG-4208 by the Airesearch Company states that Adamenko's
report "appears to be genuine information and not disinformation."
Elsewhere, Wortz et al. describe Adamenko's training methods in a
manner suggesting the possibility of an actual psi - and not merely
electrostatic - effect as follows:

"His model for training in telekinesis is volitional effort that
leads to changes in skin conductivity that are simultaneous with
telekinesis. During training, the subjects learn by volitional effort
to charge a battery of condensers; the charge is roughly proportional
to volitional effort. Once trained, the subjects can use similar
volitional effort to electrostatically charge an object at a
distance. In describing what may be a current Soviet position in
training, Adamenko further states in his discussion on `…
Electrodynamics and Psychoenergetics,' that `Production of special
states of consciousness and psychic training at the level of
psychoenergetics using modem devices has just as great significance
as the investigation of the psychic field using physically talented
individuals."'

The actual distance over which an object can be electrostatically
charged is not sufficiently specified to rule out, as Wortz et al.
imply, a normal electrostatic interaction.

An important Soviet researcher is A. S. Roman, described by Lewis
(1976) as "a medical doctor with impeccable credentials." Roman has
specialized in the field of "psychic self-regulation" or
the "influence of self-suggestion on the human organism." His
experimental research has extended over twenty years. Lewis (1976)
states that this research began in the mid-fifties, "reportedly to
discover ways by which cosmonauts could be taught to control their
psycho-physiological processes in the conditions of space flight."
His training method, which involves active self-suggestion, is drawn
from elements of zen, yoga, Chinese medicine, autogenic training and
progressive relaxation. Roman has laid great emphasis on research
with naive, healthy subjects. Physiological parameters are measured
both before and after training in psychical self-regulation.
Measurements have included control of skin temperature, induction of
a cataleptic state of "waxy flexibility," induction of automatic
writing and automatic speech, isolated contraction of abdominal
muscles, displacement of the internal organs of the abdominal cavity,
alteration of sensitivity to pain, control of blood sugar metabolism,
decrease of reaction time, decrease of visual perception speed,
increase of memory abilities, and decrease of visual after images.
During these experiments, Roman and his colleagues noticed a variety
of effects that seemed to obey no lawfulness that depended on the
self-regulation exercises. These effects included distortion of body
image, feelings of inner agitation, itching and feelings of body
discomfort.

Additionally, Roman has researched the use of self-suggestion as a
therapeutic tool. Lewis (1976) states that Roman finds self-
suggestion superior to any other therapeutic method, including
hypnosis. Successful treatment has been researched with regard to
some 23 different pathological conditions listed by Lewis.

Roman is one of the proponents of the theory of "bioplasmic energy"
in the Soviet Union. This theory, sometimes likened to the occult
concept of the "aura," is claimed by its proponents to account for
the data of parapsychology. To support this theory, measurements of
electrobioluminescence are made using high-voltage photography
apparatus of the sort pioneered by Semyon and Valentina Kirlian.
Regarding this research, Roman and Victor Inyushin state,

"When the trained subject places his hand on the forearm of the non-
trained subject, and begins to suggest to himself a feeling of warmth
in the hand, then similar changes will also appear in the arm of the
non-trained, although before this he could not produce this by
himself. The non-trained subject does not know what the individual
trained in autosuggestion suggests to himself and to what extent,
this being specified in the conditions of the experiment. Similar
results were also noticed with distant contacts (2-3 cm. distance),
but sometimes with weaker manifestation. It is possible to produce
these effects only with the aid of individuals who developed the
ability to voluntarily effect through autosuggestion a number of
involuntary unconscious processes in the body (e.g., changing skin
temperature).

"To refine the distant action of this effect, a series of special
investigations with plants were conducted, as the experiments have
shown to be very sensitive indicators of different forms of energy.
Also in this case, electrobioluminescence data have shown that during
distant contact (5-10 cm.) the autosuggestion of warmth (e.g. in the
hand) increased the luminescence intensity in the direction of
growth, as compared with the initial condition. On the other hand,
autosuggestion of cold decreased it.

The extent to which psi is involved in the experiments of Adamenko
and Roman is clearly questionable. The small distances over
which "bioenergetic" effects are noticed are not sufficient to rule
out nonpsi forms of interaction. It is entirely possible that
training in self-regulation has been applied to more specifically
measurable psi tasks, and that such research has not been published
in a manner that would be accessible to American researchers. Such
speculation is tenuous although probably not less informative than
current popular accounts of Soviet psi activity.



References

Adamenko, V. Some questions of biological electrodynamics and
psychoenergetics. In A.J. Lewis, A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.

Lewis, A.J. A Report. Los Angeles: author, 1976.

Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Psychic discoveries behind the iron
curtain. New York: Bantam, 1969.

Ostrander, S., and Schroeder, L. Handbook of psi discoveries. New
York: Berkeley, 1974.

Wortz, E.C., Bauer, A.J., Blackwelder, R.F., Eerkens, J.W., and Saur,
A.J. Novel biophysical information transfer mechanisms (NBIT).
AlResearch Manufacturing Companv (2525 W. 190th Street, Torrance, CA
90509), January 14, 1976, Document No. 76-13197, Contract No. XG-4208
(54 - 20)75S.