In the Beginning
The Association TransCommunication (ATransC) was founded by Sarah Estep in 1982 as the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP). Her objective was to “provide objective evidence that we survive physical death in our individual conscious state.”
Sarah’s focus was on EVP and ITC, and her friendly style of reporting endeared her to many people just learning about these phenomena. She provided a community for people who knew of EVP but had no one to discuss it with or who could teach them how to use EVP to contact a loved one. Remember, Jürgenson discovered EVP in 1959 and the AA-EVP was begun only twenty-three years later.
Tom and Lisa Butler assumed leadership in 2000 and attempted to continue Sarah’s work without changing to Association’s personality. Sarah was not technically oriented. She was good with the recorder, but she had yet to think in terms of an Internet presence for the Association. The first change the Butlers made was to introduce this website. It was designed from the beginning with a focus on factual, level headed disclosure of what is known about these phenomena. The intention was to provide a source for information scientists would feel comfortable using, while at the same time, giving people grieving for the loss of a loved one, a place to learn a reason for hope. An online discussion forum quickly followed as the Idea Exchange. Today, the forum includes a Gallery and an archive containing most of the past NewsJournals.
The Idea Exchange has been converted to “Read Only” due to lack of participation.
Please contact us if you have questions.
The Butlers also expanded the newsletter from the six 8.5″ X 11″ page newsletter to an average of 20 pages and refocused it to include research reports as a NewsJournal. They also made it available as a PDF file for email delivery. Because of the emailed version is sometimes forwarded, estimated circulation is well over 1,000 readers.
EVP was officially “discovered” in 1959, so it was still very new in 1982. Back then, there were few support groups for people wishing to learn about it, so Sarah filled an important need of the time. But in fact, EVP is just one form of communication from the other side. To understand such communication, it is necessary to study all forms of trans-etheric influence. For instance, audio forms of ITC (known as EVP) shares important characteristics with visual forms of ITC. Knowing this makes it reasonable to look for similar shared characteristics in other fields.
The Association has been recognized around the world as a good place to learn about these phenomena from an objective and well-considered perspective. The Butlers have always attempted to make the organization accessible to scientists and grieving parents alike.
The focus continues to be on compassion, objectivity and research, but now there is an added focus on understanding the implications of the evidence on how we live. It is important to understand that there is a “so what” to understand we survive physical death. The aim is to help all of us understand what that is.
The Website
Think of the website as a place to find information about transcommunication and some of the people working in the field. Everything you need to know to work with these phenomena should be available on the site.
Funding (Membership)
The ATransC no longer has dues-paying members. It is now supported with:
- Earnings from AA-EVP Publishing:
- Sarah Estep’s books
- Martha Copeland’s book
- Tom and Lisa Butler’s books.
- The eBay affiliate program and website advertising.
- Occasional direct donations to the ATransC via PayPal.
All are applied to operations, outreach and research. None of the volunteers, including the directors, receive compensation.
Theory
There has to be a “so what” for any study. Yes, there are unexpected phenomena, and yes, they appear to provide evidence of survival of personality, a greater reality and transcommunication. Of course, this has important implications for science, but what does it mean to the individual? How should people respond to the likelihood they will find themselves very much alive on the other side of the veil?
Tom Butler’s personal Etheric Studies website (ethericstudies.org) includes considerable information about theory that has evolved from the Butler’s study of ITC.
Etheric Studies
As new information becomes available, the ATransC directors have been evolving a version of the Trans-survival Hypothesis (phenomena are caused by survived personalities). It is based on the version of the survival hypothesis referred to in parapsychology as an alternative to the Super-psi Hypothesis (phenomena are echoes of the past) but is influenced by what has been learned via etheric studies. As part of this effort, essays are also being written which address important concepts such as Mediumship, The Creative process, Etheric Fields and Personality.
Resources
An extensive White Paper on transcommunication and many examples are maintained on the website for public access. Personal stories offered in the Mediumship section and articles in the Article section are intended to provide role models for people wanting to learn how others have experienced these phenomena.
Occasional Update Email List
One form of ATransC membership is to be on the Occasional Update Email List. This is a very occasional newsletter used to help keep you informed about what we think is important to this work. You can register to receive these updates with the form on the right column.
Today, the ATransC is amongst the very few organizations in the English-speaking world that provides information about the Trans-survival Hypothesis from the perspective of current understanding about transcommunication. If you think this study is important, then please consider subscribing to the Occasional Update email.
A person can become knowledgeable about these phenomena and learn to work with ITC by taking the time to study the contents of this website but it is important to work with others who can act as objective advisors.
Archived ATransC NewsJournal
The 129 issues of the NewsJournal and (57 by the Butlers) represent an important history of ITC beginning with Sarah Estep in 1982 and ending with the Butlers in 2014. Reading the past NewsJournals affords an important education about transcommunication that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
All of the quarterly ATransC NewsJournals published since 2000, and those published by Sarah Estep from 1982 to 1991, are in PDF format which can be accessed at atransc.org/atransc-newsjournals.
Online Journal
There are no peer-reviewed journals specifically dedicated to the study of reports about transcommunication. The ATransC Journal is an online feature that provides important background information for people wishing to conduct research in this field.
Media Watch
Lisa Butler has been writing a column about current news items concerning things paranormal since 2001. The columns are archived on spiritualistsocietyofreno.org. Anyone wishing to research such subjects as energy healing, belief surveys and new discoveries about psi functioning should consider using the Archive as a beginning resource.
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The ATransC LogoThe gold logo is a Möbius strip folded into an infinity sign. A Möbius strip is formed by twisting a strip of material 180 degrees and connecting the two ends so that the backside of one end is connected to the front side of the other. An ant walking along the surface would be on the opposite side each time it passes the front of the symbol. The symbolism of the logo is that “both sides are really one and that one continues forever.” ObjectivityThe study of transcommunication is the study of conceptual influences causing objective effects. They remain conceptual as long as the influences are in the mind of the experiencer or observer. While all objective influences appear to require a physical person as a conduit, the ATransC attempts to focus primarily on those phenomena that have a substantial objective component which can be experienced by many and studied using the tools of physical science. |
