The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research 11 (2023)
This is my fourth issue as editor. I feel I am getting to grips with it, for example I am much more comfortable with the software. I feel very lucky in being able to produce The Magazine. It allows me to interact with some fantastic people and to help them get some of their thoughts and experiences out to like-minded people.
No two issues are the same and I do try to mix things up. One issue might have multiple short articles, another one large article with a couple of other pieces. This issue falls into that latter category. We start off with the thoughts of our President, Professor Adrian Parker. Adrian continues his personal journey with the work of Bernardo Kastrup. Whilst Adrian does not agree with everything that Kastrup writes it all gives him pause for thought at the least. And isn't that what we should all want? Ideas that make us think. Ideas that might, in part, lead us in directions not anticipated.
Another personal journey comes to us courtesy of our main article in this issue. A Paradigm for the Paranormal? by David Ellis. As mentioned in his biography David has been proof-reading this publication in its various guises since Sue Blackmore's editorship in 1988. That's an incredible amount of work and I am sure previous editors would join me in thanking him for the time and dedication he puts into the position. Naturally, despite David's best efforts, some mistakes do still appear, but they tend to be due to the editor. For example, last issue I transposed the fine folk of the University of Northampton to Nottingham. My apologies to them for that, although they are both fine places. However when I did so the spelling and grammar were correct so totally down to me. Rest assured I have received some gentle ribbing about this. But David's article, like Adrian's, is a personal piece. It follows his journey and details how his thoughts have been formed over the years, and it includes some of David's interactions with some well-known figures in the field.
The third article this issue is a review of the SPR meeting on the 9th of April 2024 at the Royal Society. This was briefly mentioned in last issue's Presidential Piece but here Ashley Knibb gives us a review of Professor Edward F Kelly's Myer's Memorial Medal speech – My Tangled Path to Myers and James. Also on the same night was the Presidential Address from Professor Chris Roe, Psi and Altered States of Consciousness. Photographs of the event were supplied by Dr Cal Cooper and Professor Adrian Parker, so my thanks to both of them. Again Ashley joins in with the theme of personal journeys and gives us an account of the two talks as well as his feelings on the august surroundings of the Royal Society headquarters.
The penultimate piece of this issue is a regular and welcome appearance from Karen Patel, the SPR librarian. Again Karen brings us some of the latest books to join the library. A full list of the holdings of the library can be accessed from the SPR website, and the library itself can be visited between 1 and 5pm on Wednesday afternoons. I do enjoy seeing and reading about the latest acquisitions, and it does spur me on to fill up my own shelves.
The final piece is a News report, specifically an announcement of the next SPR Annual International Conference, to be held on the 9th and 10th of November at Derby Mickleover Hotel. And that's me starting on my fifth issue. I hope you enjoy this one and hopefully I'll get to meet some more of you in Derby
Gordon Rutter
Editor