I'm proud and grateful to be a recipient of this year's Rogo Award for Parapsychological Media, for my forthcoming Historical Anthology of Near-Death Experiences. Lisette Coly, the President of the Parapsychology Foundation wrote these kind words in the announcement: "Gregory is certainly well positioned to create this anthology as he has been researching NDEs and afterlife beliefs across cultures for two decades.... I am a great fan of his 2018 book Near-Death Experience in Indigenous Religions while anxiously awaiting publication of his planned Near-Death Experience and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece and Rome. "
Thank you! It's so gratifying that institutions like these are recognizing the contribution that humanities subjects have to make to the field. I don't think NDEs (or reincarnation, mediumship, shamanism etc.) can be fully understood from hard science perspectives alone, and that both areas of research need to complement each other.
You can read the full announcement about the award, and also learn more about the Parapsychology Foundation here.
Incidentally, Lisette Coly is the granddaughter of the famous psychic medium Eileen Garrett, who founded the Parapsychology Foundation in 1951. In my forthcoming book The Next World: Otherworld Experiences and the Origins of the Afterlife, I discuss descriptions of the afterlife that Garrett and other mediums allegedly received directly from spirits in the other realm
The book on ancient Greek and Roman NDEs (and early Christian) that Lisette mentioned, by the way, is still a long way off. As expected, the Anthology is a major project requiring a huge amount of research, editing, and writing time. As an independent scholar, my research is wholly dependent on funding from organizations like the Parapsychology Foundation, as well as from individuals like you. If you would like to support my work from as little as $1 a month, please visit my Patreon page to explore all the benefits of signing up https://www.patreon.com/gregoryshushan
One of those benefits, in fact, is an unpublished shorter version of my research on mediumistic descriptions of the afterlife -- available as a download to Patrons at all levels. Another benefit is the Historical NDE of the Month -- and sticking with the early medium theme, this month's is a rarity from the Victorian psychic medium Leonora Piper. More about that in the next post. But for now, if you'd like a sneak peek into The Next World please consider becoming a Patron!