Exploring the Science of Remote Viewing

Citizen Scientist

Exploring the Science of Remote Viewing

How a mental technique used to gather intelligence during the Cold War era may prove instrumental in expanding our notions of time and human consciousness.

By Patricia S. Cyrus

Project Star Gate

How does one reconcile mainstream scientists investigating paranormal phenomenon with a top secret intelligence program run by the U.S. Government’s Department of Defense?

During the Cold War era, the DOD’s intelligence agencies learned that certain aspects of psychic functioning were demonstrable and verifiable. This led to the creation of a top secret program, most commonly known as Project Star Gate, which lasted for 23 years (1972-1995). During this period over $20 million dollars were spent to research and exploit the mental skill called “remote viewing.” Specially trained military men and women used their minds to transcend time and space to acquire information about people, places or objects that were shielded from their normal sensory perceptual channels. We weren’t the only ones interested in this technique; the former USSR and China also expended comparable amounts of funds during the same period to study psi functioning, finding similar results.

Project Star Gate, run by the CIA, DIA and U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (USA INSCOM), was terminated after two decades and declassified in June, 1995. This was followed with a dramatic exposé in November, 1995 on ABC News Nightline, a popular investigative program with Ted Koppel, interviewing Robert Gates, the former head of the CIA, as well as several other prominent individuals involved with the program. Additional details followed starting in the year 2000 when the U.S. Government declassified approximately 90,000 pages of material. Still, much about the Star Gate project remains classified. The complete history of this important era in psychic research may never be known by the general public.

Since the program ended in 1995, many of the scientists, viewers and analysts involved have come forward to share details about their experiences. In 1999, select scientists and practitioners formed a non-profit organization called The International Remote Viewers Association (IRVA). According to IRVA, “The concluded objective was to create an organization that would provide a mechanism for evaluating the discipline called "remote viewing,” encourage scientifically sound research, propose ethical standards and provide overview educational information to the public.”

For more information on IRVA:http://www.irva.org/index.html

My Involvement in Remote Viewing Research

I remember the 1995 Nightline program well, however, I never could have imagined that two years later I would select this topic in a science theory course at the University of Pittsburgh, challenged by my professor to refute or support the research methods employed in the Star Gate program. After studying all of the available documents, I concluded that the experiments were legitimate. In fact, their research protocols, developed and refined over many years with continuous scientific critical oversight, met or exceeded the standards accepted by scientists for investigating mainstream phenomenon.

Fast forward 20 years to 2015 – have we learned anything since the Star Gate project was declassified? Are we any closer to discovering how precognition and telepathy work? Have we replicated the experimental results reported during the Star Gate era? The answer is “yes,” we are making progress.

Empirical evidence accumulated over the past 50 years has demonstrated that precognition is genuine, but the mechanism of information transfer still eludes us. Unfortunately, this research is still considered taboo by the very fields necessary to move the subject forward. This translates into a lack of institutional support and funding required to tackle anomalous cognition. Fortunately, there are a handful of dedicated scientists around the world that recognize the significance of this phenomenon.

Nobel Laureate physicist, Niels Bohr, once said, “Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.” Eventually the mechanism of information transfer underlying precognition and telepathy will be discovered, and our notions of time and human consciousness will undergo much-needed paradigm shifts. This will lead to new models in physics, neuroscience, biology and information theory.

I was given an opportunity to participate in a remote viewing field study that took place between 2000 and 2012 with one of the lead scientists and a former Star Gate project director, Dale E. Graff. A few of our actual RV sessions appear in the following pages, part of a larger study of over 250 experiments completed over a 10-year period. Some of the sessions were accomplished in both the conscious state and dream states of awareness. All of the experiments in this study were conducted with Dale Graff (tasker) and Patricia Cyrus (viewer), separated by approximately 1,000 miles.

Also included is an example of a special form of remote viewing called Associative Remote Viewing (ARV). The task in this instance was to describe the photograph associated with the winning team that would be revealed to the viewer in the future during the feedback phase. This session was completed with Paul Elder (tasker) and Patricia Cyrus (viewer), separated by over 3,300 miles.

Target: Describe the image in the sealed envelope

Type of Experiment: Remote Viewing

Target Type: Color photograph of Lincoln MemorialSingle Blind: target known to tasker, not to viewer

Viewer RV Mode: Extended Remote Viewing (ERV)

Tasker Name and Location: Dale Graff, Prince Frederick, Maryland USA

Viewer Name and Location: Patricia Cyrus, Orlando, Florida USA

Physical distance between Taskerand Viewer:

927 miles

Date/Time Target assigned by Tasker to Viewer:

Friday, May 13, 2003Tasking: 10:59 PM ET

Date/Time of Remote Viewing session by Viewer:

Saturday, May 17, 2003Start: 9:00 PM ETEnd: 9:10 PM ET

Date/Time of Feedback: Wednesday, May 21, 2003Feedback: 8:19 PM ET

Time elapsed between Viewingand Feedback:

96 hours, 6 minutes (3 days, 23 hours)

Notes: The viewer also made contact with the target in the dream state, but the results are too involved to describe here. Contact author for the dream state session results. Viewer also perceived water at the site. Although this is accurate, water does not appear in the target photograph. Further, the viewer had not visited the site at the time of the experiment. She visited the Lincoln Memorial for the first time on May 4, 2012.

TARGETCOLOR IMAGE OF

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

VIEWER’S SESSION RESULTS

Viewer’s descriptionhardcool to touchbeigecolumns feels likelimestone

water, hill, stone structure

Viewer’s summaryFeels like a manmade structure, saw many columns but no actual walls (solid walls); made me feel as though I were standing inside an ancient Greek/Roman temple overlooking an ocean.

© Patricia S. Cyrus 2015

Target: Describe the main image and related article that will appear (in the future) on page B1 of the Reading Eagle newspaper on Monday, November 27, 2006


Target Type: Newspaper article, image and text (it will appear when the newspaper is published on Monday, November 27, 2006)Double Blind: target not known to tasker or viewer


Tasker Name and Location: Dale Graff, Hamburg, Pennsylvania USA



1,029 miles


Friday, November 24, 2006Tasking: 10:47 AM ET


Sunday, November 26, 2006Start: 5:00 AM ET End: 5:26 AM ET

Date/Time of Feedback: Monday, November 27, 2006Feedback: 11:42 AM ET


30 hours, 26 minutes (1 day, 6 hours, 26 minutes)

Notes: The viewer made best contact in the dream state. She also made contact with the target in the conscious state, most notable she described the site as having a “Bavarian feeling.” The town where the photograph was taken is located in Kutztown, PA, a community founded in the late 1700’s by immigrants from Bavaria, Germany. According to 2015 census data, Kutztown‘s population demographics are predominantly of German heritage.

TARGETDescribe the main image that will appear on Page B-1 of the

Reading Eagle that will appear on Monday, November 27, 2006


Viewer’s summary

The only dream I recall on Sunday, November 26 was of being in an art class with a female teacher. There were about 12 students in the class. She was instructing us in using water colors, using both the brush and our hands to smudge the color for whimsical effects. We were drawing small objects, like vases and dolls. The main colors were purple, red and gold.

Source: Reading Eagle


Target: Describe the image in the sealed envelope


Target Type: Artist’s color rendering of superconductor processSingle Blind: target known to tasker, not to viewer


Tasker Name and Location: Dale Graff, Hamburg, Pennsylvania USA



1,029 miles


Thursday, November 15, 2007Tasking: 11:45 AM ET


Sunday, November 18, 2007Start: 5:00 PM ETEnd: 5:21 PM ET

Date/Time of Feedback: Tuesday, November 20, 2007Feedback: 9:56 AM


24 hours, 16 hours, 35 minutes (1 day, 16 hours, 35 minutes)

Notes: Email summary transmitted with RV session from viewer to tasker: “My perceptions were of my attention being pulled up towards the night sky. It seemed as though an object were detectible far above me in the distance. It seemed natural and rock-like, perhaps a meteor or comet (or my idea of what a meteor or comet would be like). A glowing, streaming light could be seen trailing behind the object with fuzzy light emitting from the front or head of the object. Not many other sensations related to this target other than that of observing an unusual celestial event in the night sky with a sense of wonder.”

TARGETCOLOR IMAGE “SEEING WITH

SUPERCONDUCTORS”


Fast moving object in the sky, comet or meteor? Rock, gas/particles

Viewer’s summaryFeeling of looking up at night sky –see flash of light in distance – moving fast – reminds me of a meteor or a comet.

Viewer’s descriptionsky/black blueheavenspowerful-strongwhitegaseoussignificantcelestial object?rock – mineralfloating/flying

Source: Scientific America


Target: Describe the image associated with the winning team of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoff that you will be shown at the conclusion of Game 7

Type of Experiment: Associative Remote Viewing (ARV)Single Blind: target known to tasker, but tasker did not know identify of the winning team at the time of tasking

Target Type: Color photograph of two oranges, one sliced openSingle Blind: target known by tasker, not to viewer


Tasker Name and Location: Paul Elder, Port Alberni, British Columbia CANADA



3,357 miles


Friday, June 10, 2011Tasking: 2:50 PM ET


Monday, June 13, 2011Start: 6:00 AM ETEnd: 6:18 AM ET

Date/Time of Feedback: Thursday, June 16, 2011Feedback: 12:52 AM ET (Target seen by viewer on June 16 at approx. 9:00 AM ET)


74 hours, 42 minutes (3 days, 2 hours, 42 minutes)

Notes: Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoff was played in Vancouver, B.C. on Wednesday evening, June 15. Feedback was provided to the viewer after the results of the game via Email. The viewer did not read the Email containing the feedback results until Thursday, June 16 at approx. 9:00 AM ET; she did not seek the results of the hockey game on television or via internet the night of the game.

Photograph assigned by tasker to represent the

Boston Bruins =

BRUINS WIN OVER CANUCKS 4-0 on Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Photograph assigned by tasker to represent the Vancouver Canucks =


ARV TARGETDescribe the image associated with the winner of

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoff

Viewer’s descriptionFalling down into target feeling circular ring/bright shiny gold color/“Radiant”

Viewer’s summaryImpressions first of falling down from above – sense of circular structure, more ring-link – yellow, gold color, radiant energy.

The viewer should never be shown

the loosing image of an ARV session


Remote Viewing: Update of an Ancient Spiritual Practice

The ability to psychically acquire information about the future has been reported since the dawn of human civilization. Commonly referred to as ‘clairvoyance’ or clear seeing, this ability has not changed over thousands of years. Accessing information about the future (precognition) has apparently always been available to us in both the conscious and dream states of awareness.

Historically, precognitive information was transmitted orally and sometimes in written form to those seeking answers on a topic. In Biblical times, seers known as prophets held positions of respect as interpreters of prophetic dreams and as advisors to political leaders concerning potential threats to their kingdoms. In ancient Greece, institutionalized oracles were held in high esteem by both the leaders and the community. In the rise of Christianity, saints who had reached a sufficient spiritual level were often described as having powers of prophecy. And, in the East, monks and yogis with these abilities played a guiding role in the spiritual lives of their leaders and followers.

During the Star Gate era, the term ‘clairvoyance’ was changed to ‘remote viewing,’ to give the phenomenon a neutral sounding term that would be free of the prejudices held by some of the reviewers of the program. There are distinct differences, however, – not in the way information is accessed by the mind – but in the way the information is reported by the percipient and evaluated by the analyst/scientist.

Remote viewing is actually a misnomer because all of the physical senses are active during a typical RV session. Results by the participants include not only visual perceptions but also dimensional aspects, scents, sounds, textures, energetics and esthetics about a given target.

Remote viewing was developed by physicists, Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ, working closely with Ingo Swann, a well-known New York artist with documented ESP abilities. Swann created and codified a technique called Controlled Remote Viewing (CRV) to guide the military viewers to qualitatively and consistently record their psychic impressions. During the early years of the program, scientists identified talented participants by their ability to perceive hidden targets. Participants had generally reported previous experiences of psi functioning in their backgrounds and were self-selected to be tested.

Formal training is not required to perform a successful RV session. What matters most is the end result. Using the signal-to-noise metaphor, formal training helps the viewer better identify the “signal” from the “noise” during their session. In other words, training will sensitize you to, “learn to refrain from filling in gaps in the information with personal experience or imagination.” (Defense Intelligence Agency – Directorate for Scientific and Technical Intelligence: Psychoenergetics Research, 7 August 1984).

How to Remote View

Remote viewing is surprisingly easy and natural. Research indicates that most humans experience intuitive perceptions. First, find a partner that will act as your tasker to select a color photograph with a central focus as your target. Alternatively, an object can be used as a target if you are in the same location. Photographs are preferred because they can be sent via email from the tasker to the viewer during the feedback phase, and they are easier to store with your session records.

National Geographic or Smithsonian magazines are excellent sources of quality photographs. The target should be placed in an opaque, sealed envelope if it will be in the same room as the viewer. Preferably, the target will remain with the tasker at their location. Remember, distance means nothing to a remote viewer. You will generate the same results whether the target is 10 feet away or ten thousands of miles.

Specify a time to perform your RV session. You and the tasker must agree when you will do your RV session. It could be on a specific date/time, or you may wish to do it over the weekend when you are not preoccupied with work and family. One hour is adequate, with 30 minutes to relax and 30 minutes to access and perceive the target. Select a quiet location where you won’t be disturbed. You’ll need a pad of plain, white paper and a pen to record your impressions. Begin by writing your name, date and starting time of your session at the top of page. As you progress with additional pages, number your pages to keep them in order.

Sit comfortably, quiet your mind, and then direct your attention to the target. Record all of your impressions, no matter how fleeting, including sketched images, fragmented or fully-formed, that come to mind. There is no time limit on a session. Work as long as you feel that you are acquiring information about the target. Don’t force the process.

Remain as objective as possible. Describe, don’t analyze your perceptions. When there is nothing left to perceive about the target, end your session and indicate your concluding time. Write a summary, incorporating all of the elements perceived. Once you complete your summary, it is never permitted to add or change any of your data. This is a non-negotiable rule in remote viewing protocol.

Finally, ask the tasker to reveal the target to you (this can be done via email if the tasker is in a different location than the viewer). Compare your sketches and verbal descriptions to the target. The feedback should be provided as soon as possible to the viewer. The tasker and viewer are encouraged to dialog about the results as part of the feedback and learning process.

Helpful Tips

q The practice of regular meditation is helpful. Emptying your mind of thoughts and daily residue in order to allow yourself to focus inward is fundamental to successful remote viewing.

q Select a tasker that is positive about participating in your session. Research shows that working with a partner that believes in the possibility of perceiving nonlocal information is preferable to working with a person who is negative or not interested in your results.

q The target can be absolutely anything; there are literally billions of possibilities. Be open and trusting of your perceptions. Write everything down. Do not discount any impressions you receive.

q Approach remote viewing with no expectations of the outcome. Applying too much pressure on yourself can extinguish psi functioning just as easily as holding a negative attitude. Be psychologically neutral and pay attention to all of your perceptions.

q During the feedback phase, spend a good deal of time reviewing your results, including researching background information about the target. Re-sketch the target after you receive feedback to viscerally connect to the photograph or object. The theory of retrocasation, the future influencing the past, hypothesizes that paying close attention to your feedback may strengthen your precognitive abilities.

q Have fun!

About the Author

Patricia Cyrus began participating in psi research began in 1997 while attending the University of Pittsburgh. Following a presentation she made on remote viewing in a science theory course, she contacted Dale Graff, physicist, psi researcher, author and former project director of the DIA’s Star Gate program. This led to a fruitful 16-year collaboration, with Dale Graff as tasker and Patricia as viewer/percipient.

Patricia’s involvement in the field also includes a precognitive remote viewing group experiment on November 3, 2003 with researcher and author, Stephan Schwartz, to predict the circumstances of the capture or discovery of the former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Her sketch of the Adwar farm house and description of Mr. Hussein's disheveled appearance and other details of his capture significantly matched the events that transpired. The results of her session, predicted 40 days in advance, were included by Mr. Schwartz in his 2007 book, Opening to the Infinite. This experiment was also investigated by Dutch film maker, Renée Scheltema, in her 2009 documentary, Something Unknown is Doing We Don’t Know What, exploring the science behind psi research.

Patricia has been interviewed by the BBC and A&E on precognition and appeared in an episode of the National Geographic Channel series, Paranatural, in 2013.

Contact:

Patricia Cyrus [email protected]

Special thanks to Dale E. Graff and Daniel P. Sheehan for their contributions.

Software

Exploring the Science of Remote Viewing