Phrenology is a way of reading a person’s character, studied by phrenologists. It looks at the bumps on the head to determine a person’s character or mental traits. The idea of phrenology originated with a European physician Dr Franz Joseph Gall (1758 – 1828). He theorized that the way a person’s mind works has a relationship with the shape of their cranium (top part of the skull, which protects the brain). He also suggested that the brain could be altered by education and by the way it is used. Neural plasticity now demonstrates how a brain can change with use. For our purposes, could phrenology be used as a psychic tool?
Although phrenology seemed popular in the nineteenth century, it was never actually a scientific method. There was no agreement about where to divide the cranium, with debate about how many sections were used to interpret mental traits. Only the shape of the skull was measured, and the corresponding area of the brain was just assumed.
Furthermore, there were also questions about the validity of interpretation based on the religious views and socioeconomic status of the person interpreting the cranium. There was also disagreement about whether the brain worked together as a whole organ or whether it had separate parts responsible for different functions.
In comparison to today’s method of determining the relationship of an area of the head to that area of the cerebral cortex, there is an internationally standard 10-20 system of electrode placement used in medical procedures. This system ensures accuracy regardless of the shape of the cranium, such as doing a paediatric sleep study on a child with a craniofacial abnormality. I have read about phrenology and face reading in older books of psychic development, but they were only mentioned briefly, with no examples of their use.
From what we know about neurobiology now, the brain certainly affects mental functions and different areas are responsible for different functions. A well-known example of this was Phineas Gage. He was an American railway worker suffered a traumatic brain injury when a rod pierced his skull, damaging his frontal lobe. His personality changed after his injury.
In summary, phrenology is an interesting concept that does not have much scientific basis. When reading a person’s character, the shape of a person’s cranium is unlikely to be given much thought. There are practical limitations to phrenology when giving a psychic reading. You are likely to be sitting face to face, in person or remotely, with a sitter. You are unlikely to see the sides, top or back of their head and less likely to notice any dents or metal plates or imperfections in their cranium. If you did, you are unlikely to comment or focus on them and thus unlikely to receive any spiritual information about them. A sitter is unlikely to tell you about any such imperfections.
Being medical intuitive, I occasionally get drawn to the head area during readings and that is usually conformation of an accident or injury of the sitter. I may also connect with a head injury via mediumship, to validate that connection with that person. I rarely get images of a person’s head or skull. It is more a feeling or a collection of images and sensations.
Face reading on the other hand, is an interesting way of doing a psychic reading. I had my face read about four years ago. Part of the reading I could not relate to. For the most part, I was impressed the accuracy of life events and timelines of those events. That is, face reading appeared to be able to pinpoint a few life events and their meaning to me. I have never seen or heard of anyone using phrenology as a psychic tool. I merely wrote this in response to reading about it in an old text on psychic development. I thought it was an interesting, yet impractical concept.
Do you know anyone who uses phrenology?
Have you heard of any other unusual psychic tools?
Rhonda Kelly