The Psychic Paradigm
By Beverly Jaegers
Book Digest and Article for Intuitive-Connections by Lorrie Kazan

According to Beverly Jaegers in The Psychic Paradigm, (Berkley Books, New York, 1998) extra-sensory perception is really “extended” sensory perception and should be brought back into the realm of physics and removed from the domain of either psychology or the occult where it has often been relegated and consequently misunderstood.

Inspired by revelations of Russian experiments performed during the cold war, the author (a former reporter) went on to create her own similar methods of training. What caught her imagination about the Russian experiments is that, having run out of suitable subjects on which to conduct research, the Russians recruited students with no background or knowledge of the psychic field, and had considerable success in teaching everyone measurable skills.

This idea that extended sensory perception is possible to teach to anyone has been replicated by Jaegers who taught these “extended” skills to herself and subsequently to her students. Her premise is that with dedicated practice anyone can become more proficient. Inevitably some people will exhibit more talent, just as some people may be natural artists while others can learn to draw acceptably. Jaegers draws the analogy between psychic skills and wine tasting. Initially the fledgling wine taster may be unable to separate a Chardonnay from a Merlot. However, after some practice, one would expect improvement, a more sensitized and experienced palette that would coordinate with the now-schooled brain to recognize even subtle differences in vintages.

Currently Jaegers does investigative work for the police, but only when requested. She is aided by a squad of psychics, many of whom she’s trained. The preciseness of a clue she renders law enforcement could mean the difference between life and death for a missing person, for example, or opening the door for more “facts” to be obtained.

The Psychic Paradigm covers many of the processes Jaegers considers fundamental to developing psychic skills. There’s nothing “touchy-feely” about her exercises. “ESP is no good to you if you must lie down or go into a near-sleeping state to be able to use it. Much of my training involves the physical fact of writing down each perception as it reaches the conscious mind. In order to write, you must be in an awakened and alert state.” This, she says, is merely a matter of training. Clearly her style is straightforward, analytical and measurable.

Perhaps related to her reporter’s background, Jaegers recommends that we proceed with the intention of answering the following questions: when, where, how, who, what, and why. Her acronym for this is Newoty, which incorporates the last letters of each word. While she (or we) may not need or even be able to supply answers to all those questions, she uses it as a jumping off place in order to supply powerful and precise information.

The following exercises exemplify Jaegers methods for awakening the mind and body to new experiences. Each skill serves as a building block, opening the door to other abilities.

Seeing with Eyes Closed

Conjuring Images: (This process trains the mind to do what you ask) Ask yourself to see a daisy, red rose, have the red rose turn white, yellow, pink.

Color Sensing

Obtain enamel paint selector chips. You may place these on 3x5 index cards. The next step is to notice the different sensations that each color engenders (especially noticing temperature changes).

First feel temperature for each color with fingertips of left hand (jot impressions)

Then feel color with fingertips of right hands (note impressions)

Example, red may feel hot or warm and have a prickly sensation to fingertips while blue may feel smooth and cool.

Psi Sensing

Poker deck (not pinochle, though she never states why; perhaps you have to be a pinochle player to know.)

Shuffle and deal three cards face down

Place left fingertips lightly on top of the first card in row

--Ask yourself what is the color of the card

--When ready, jot answer

Ask yourself what suit, jot down

Ask number, jot down

Go to next card in row

Note impressions

Score

Repeat using entire palm

Rate yourself. Remain neutral and simply practice until you’ve achieved mastery.

My Personal Reactions

“Bevy always stressed that the way to proficiency in Hand Analysis is to master the indications. She taught that study, rather than intuition, makes for progress. Her approach was scientific, empirical and based on observation and practice.” --Vivian Papson, Certified Hand Analyst

So much of what I do is about reading symbols, working with and on inner growth, and that’s what interests me. As a psychic I’m more about what Freud called “free form attention,” i.e., making the intuitive links in a client’s story and in diverse areas of their lives, to see patterns, blind spots, and offer alternatives that will make a difference.

I can’t seem to get interested in what seem like repetitive exercises to develop ESP upon command, and yet I can respect the ability as long as it’s coupled with the seer’s right intention. I think “right intention” is fairly obvious and relates to the spiritual perspective that Cayce talked about. It’s not about the abuse of power but allowing ourselves to be used by a loving higher power.

Much of what I do in my own life involves waiting, watching, being with whatever shows up in the moment (often discomfort). Discomfort can arise just from being with “not knowing” in order to allow the universe to provide a host of possible answers, and from those possible “answers,” intuiting something new, achieving what may be termed an “inner knowing.” Personally, I live with a lot of questions.

As a professional psychic, I am expected to provide answers, to remove doubt about the future, and often I can do that. More powerful, however, is the process I see reflected in the Tarot’s Major Arcana. Soul development, individuation, whatever you wish to call it, is part of a larger process. It’s no wonder the grail myth works so well for Tarot, the idea that we are able to go into a dark wood and with no map find our way to another side.

It’s possible to expand one’s abilities in sensory perception, precognition, remote viewing without developing greater depth and awareness as a soul. Certainly remote viewing (a kind of clairvoyance) has been successfully taught to all sorts of people, though some have had mental and emotional issues result from their focus on the practice to the exclusion of creating a container in the psyche or soul to handle the increased visions. Like wine tasting, one can learn to identify and separate sensations, textures, become a practitioner but not necessarily become a creative force.

Clients want ESP, predictions. ”Where am I going? Will I meet someone? Get married? Make money? On what date will so and so die?” We want to know the book is worth reading, the movie worth seeing. A querent once asked Cayce something to the effect of “Will I die in the Bahamas as another psychic predicted?” His response was tongue-in-cheek. “Well, if you go to the Bahamas, and you get sick there, you could end up dying there.” He refused to give the client confirmation that her future was preordained. Instead he stressed free will and her power to choose.

Metaphysically we know that that an attitude shift can change a thousand things, including the direction of one’s life. Even a subtle inner change can change others’ reaction to us. There’s a saying, “If you want to keep getting what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing.”

We’re at a crossroads more often than we know—and this is where intuition and spirituality can intervene and shed new light in all its varied colors. We have the opportunity to re-view our circumstances, react differently (or not react at all). We can shift inner and outer behavior and manifest different results.

Does that kind of intervention solve crimes? No, but it has the potential to prevent some. It’s detective work for the soul, the shamanic journey into the otherworld. It’s not “just the facts ma’am and nothing but the facts.” After all, what are the facts of the soul?