All in the mind
Fateful coincidences and near-death visions may not be as paranormal as we like to think, believes Susan Blackmore.

Aiming out of body
In which the editor follows a course called 'How to have an out-of-body experience in 30 days'.

Sleepwalking
How Debbie Taylor woke up to African magic.

The spirits of the sky
Davi Yanomami describes his initiation as a shaman.

On the trail of the spirits
From Joan of Arc to Mary Queen of Scots: some encounters with mediums.

Future science or science fiction?
Richard Broughton explains the state of play in laboratory testing of the paranormal.

THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL
How the main paranormal phenomena work.

Satanic verses
James Danson takes part in an exorcism.

The truth about voodoo
Haiti's religion is misunderstood, says Leslie Griffiths.

Gazing into the Sun
The NI joins hands with the enemy - Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper - for a spoon-bending experiment

Radical mediumship
Nina Silver talks to spirits - in a feminist way.

Journey's end
Chris Brazier has a paranormal experience of his own - then tries to make sense of it all.

How did we end up choosing an issue on the paranormal? The process of selecting the NI's topics looms large in my mind as I write, just one week away from our Annual Editorial Meeting. Every member of the co-operative can propose themes, though the editors who will have to realize them inevitably tend to argue their corner with more passion. The 100 or so ideas on the table at the start of the day, many of them from readers or aid agencies, are whittled down to 12 by discussion, special pleading and tactical manoeuvring.

It isn't quite as random as it sounds. We're looking for a balanced year that will keep subscribers informed and entertained, which means it would be no good producing 12 issues on solid world development subjects - there's a lot more to life than the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. So we make sure there are magazines with a strong environmental theme, and others which delve into personal politics or focus on single countries. But we are also looking for at least one issue which is a bit different, which will surprise even the most jaded subscriber.

The Paranormal obviously comes into that category. From the start my idea has been to weave my own encounters with mediums and psychics into the various perspectives of outside contributors. If I were a completely committed New Ager who consulted a personal astrologer before making decisions (like the Reagans) then there would be little point to this - you would understandably be rather loath to trust my judgement. Gullibility is like a minefield surrounding the paranormal. Being a fully fledged New Ager is in some ways akin to embracing Catholicism - having taken a leap of faith you accept the whole territory, substituting crop circles and prophetic visions for the infallibility of the Pope and the miracles of the saints.

But the opposite view, which is unprepared to accept any paranormal occurrence whatever the evidence, also smacks to me of religious commitment: faith in Western rationalism as holding the answer to everything. It would also be very convenient for me as a journalist to take a cynical line: it's much easier to write entertainingly when you're damning something, and many New Agers are obviously sitting ducks.

As it is I've tried to keep an open mind and only make a tentative overall assessment (my own, I should stress, rather than the NI's) at the very end. And if I've taken the mickey it's usually been at my own expense.

Talking of taking the mickey... In the last 18 months in this office I have been the butt of just about every joke about the paranormal you could think of (as often as not the same joke endlessly recycled). Why do my contributors have to use the postal service? Don't I already know the answer to my own question? Why don't we save money on this issue and just beam it telepathically to all our readers? Yeah, yeah. At least when you're writing about world hunger you're spared the comedy.

Letters
Letter from Lahore
Updates
Reviews: plus John Ford classic
Curiosities
Endpiece: by Israel Shamir
Country profile: South Africa

FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION: JOANNE HASSALL
FRONT COVER PHOTO: TELEGRAPH COLOUR LIBRARY
ONLINE MAG MAINTAINED BY SIMON LOFFLER