Bilocation

Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is a term used to describe the ability/instances in which an individual or object is said to be, or appears to be, located in two distinct places at the same instant in time.
Spence, Lewis (2003) "Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology: Part 2", Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 0766128172
American Society for Psychical Research (1907) "An interesting case of Bilocation", American Society for Psychical Research, The Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, V44-45 The term has been used in a wide range of historical and philosophical systems, including 
early Greek philosophy,
 shamanism,
Gardner, J., Faiths of the Word, cited in 
paganism,
 folklore,
 occultism and magic,
 the paranormal
Hinduism (as one of the siddhis),
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali cited in 
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali cited in 
Buddhism,
spiritualism and Theosophy,
 mysticism in general,
 as well as 
Christian mysticism
 and 
Jewish mysticism.
Several Christian saints and monks are said to have exhibited bilocation. Among the earliest is the apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar in the year 40. In another instance, in 1774, St. Alphonsus Liguori is said to have gone into a trance while preparing for Mass. When he came out of the trance he reported that he had visited the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV. His presence is then said to have been confirmed by those attending the Pope despite his being four days travel away, and not appearing to have left his original location. Other Christian figures said to have experienced it include St. Anthony of Padua, Ursula Micaela Morata, St. Gerard Majella, St. Charles of St. Andrew (Mount Argus), St. Pio of Pietrelcina,
St. Severus of Ravenna, St. Ambrose of Milan, Maria de Agreda,This holy virgin burned with a most ardent love for God and for the salvation of souls. One day, she beheld in a vision all the nations of the world. She saw the greater part of men were deprived of God's grace, and running headlong to everlasting perdition. She saw how the Indians of Mexico put fewer obstacles to the grace of conversion than any other nation who were out of the Catholic Church, and how God, on this account, was ready to show mercy to them. Hence she redoubled her prayers and penances to obtain for them the grace of conversion. God heard her prayers. He commanded her to teach the Catholic religion to those Mexican Indians. From that time, she appeared, by way of bilocation, to the savages, not less than five hundred times, instructing them in all the truths of our holy religion, and performing miracles in confirmation of these truths. When all were converted to the faith, she told them that religious priests would be sent by God to receive them into the Church by baptism. As she had told, so it happened. God, in his mercy, sent to these good Indians several Franciscan fathers, who were greatly astonished when they found those savages fully instructed in the Catholic doctrine. When they asked the Indians who had instructed them, they were told that a holy virgin appeared among them many times, and taught them the Catholic religion and confirmed it by miracles. (Life of the Venerable Mary of Jesus of Agreda, § xii.) Thus those good Indians were brought miraculously to the knowledge of the true religion in the Catholic Church, because they followed their conscience in observing the natural law. [Muller, Michael. The Catholic Dogma: "Extra Ecclesiam Nullus omnino Salvatur" http://www.traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Information/The_Catholic_Dogma/Contents.html] and St. Martin de Porres, as well as Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria.
==Other examples==
In the 17th century, persons accused of witchcraft were reported to appear in dreams and visions of witnesses. The trials at Bury St. Edmunds and Salem included this "Spectral evidence" against defendants. Matthew Hopkins described the phenomenon in his book The Discovery of Witches.
The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability, even though he himself was not conscious of its happening at the time.Booth Martin (2000) "A Magick Life: Biography of Aleister Crowley", Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0340718056
In Islam Idries Shah and Robert Graves mention the case where senior members of the Azimia order were "reputed to appear, like many of the ancient Sheikhs at different places at one and the same time".
The phenomenon of bilocation is also referred to as an 'out-of-body experience', in which one's consciousness leaves the body and visits a separate location.
All over the world, but especially noted in Scandinavia, the Vardoger is a form of bilocation in which an image of a traveller appears in a house prior to his actual arrival. The image may be seen to ascend a staircase, etc.
==Scientific Validity==
No observations of bilocation (at least at scales larger than molecules^ Brezger, B.; Hackermüller, L.; Uttenthaler, S.; Petschinka, J.; Arndt, M.; Zeilinger, A. (February 2002). "Matter–Wave Interferometer for Large Molecules" (reprint). Physical Review Letters 88 (10): 100404. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.100404. http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Lucia.Hackermueller/unsereArtikel/Brezger2002a.pdf. Retrieved 2007-04-30.) are known to have been reported in scientific laboratories. Accordingly, evidence for bilocation is limited to either unrepeatable first-hand reports or hearsay and are considered by skeptics to be pseudoscience.
== In popular fiction ==
In the movie Poltergeist the gateway to the afterlife is known as the "area of bilocation".
==See also==
*Apparitional experience
*Doppelgänger
*Etiäinen
*Flying saints
*Tay al-Ard
==References==
*
Category:Spiritual gifts
Category:Scholasticism
Category:Roman Catholic Eucharistic theology
Category:Catholic theology and doctrine
Category:Christian miracle narrative
Category:Eucharist (Catholic Church)
Category:Paranormal
Category:Forteana
Category:Paranormal terminology