seance
Calling the dead
A seance is a gathering where participants attempt to communicate with the dead, typically through a medium who claims to channel spirits.
The practice emerged from 19th-century spiritualism and usually involves rituals like holding hands around a table in dim light: The medium conducted a seance to contact the departed grandmother.
The word extends loosely to any mysterious or ritualistic group meeting.
Curved closed shape
- candlesWax lights with wicks
- tableHorizontal furniture surface
- handsGripping limbs' extremities
- darknessTotal absence of light
invocation · summoning · incantation · chanting · planchette · altar · vigil · prayer
Apparition of the dead
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
- poltergeistDisruptive supernatural entity
wraith · revenant · ectoplasm · manifestation · presence · entity · shade · banshee
Curved closed shape
- parlorFormal room for visitors
- VictorianOf a prim era
- attendeesPeople at an event
- participantsThose actively involved
sitters · host · witness · table-turning · drawing-room · evening · candlelit · intimate
One claiming supernatural perception
- clairvoyantOne who perceives beyond senses
- spiritualistGhost communicator believer
- channelerOne who transmits spirits
- necromancerSummoner of the deceased
fortune-teller · oracle · sensitive · conduit · trance · possession · vessel · voice
Communion with the deceased
- occultismBelief in supernatural forces
- paranormalBeyond scientific explanation
- supernaturalBeyond natural explanation
- metaphysicalBeyond the material realm
esoteric · mysticism · folklore · superstition · skepticism · debunking · fraud · hoax
circle
Curved closed shape
darkness · invocation · summoning · incantation · chanting · planchette · altar · vigil · prayer · concentration
ghost
Apparition of the dead
- apparitionVisible supernatural manifestation
- phantomInsubstantial apparition
- specterGhostly threatening presence
poltergeist · wraith · revenant · ectoplasm · manifestation · presence · entity · shade · banshee · visitant
circle
Curved closed shape
participants · sitters · host · witness · table-turning · drawing-room · evening · candlelit · intimate
psychic
One claiming supernatural perception
- clairvoyantOne who perceives beyond senses
- spiritualistGhost communicator believer
- channelerOne who transmits spirits
necromancer · fortune-teller · oracle · sensitive · conduit · trance · possession · vessel · voice · table-tipping
spiritualism
Communion with the deceased
- occultismBelief in supernatural forces
- paranormalBeyond scientific explanation
- supernaturalBeyond natural explanation
metaphysical · esoteric · mysticism · folklore · superstition · skepticism · debunking · fraud · hoax · charlatan
heaven
Sky or bliss
otherworld · beyond · veil · departed · souls · eternity · realm · hereafter
- Death Occultnecromancy, mediumship, ghosts, channeling, psychic medium
- paranormal experiencesghost sighting, haunting, apparition, poltergeist, ESP
- pseudosciencehomeopathy, astrology, phrenology, numerology, palmistry
- psychicspsychic, psychics, fortune teller, clairvoyant, clairvoyants
- seancesmedium, mediums, channeling, planchette, ectoplasm
- spiritualismmediumship, medium, channeling, mediums, spirit guide
seanceprayer
Address to deity
worship · meditation · Mass · church service · devotion
seancescientific inquiry
Systematic investigation of phenomena
scientific method · debunking · laboratory research · logical analysis · critical thinking
seanceburial
Placing deceased underground
letting go · closure · moving on · cremation · final farewell