Galileo Commission Summit XII
Book Launch for
On the Banks of the River Styx. New Perspectives on Terminal Lucidity and other Near-Death Phenomena
Volume VI; Postmaterialist Sciences Series
edited by Michael Nahm, Marjorie Woollacott and Natasha Tassell-Matamua
Thursday 16 October, 4-8:30 pm UK
In Greek mythology, the river Styx represents the boundary between the land of the living and the land of the dead. In this book, leading experts in the field of near-death studies describe what people experience at the banks of this river. The authors teamed up to present innovative and cutting-edge research on a rich variety of end-of-life experiences, near-death experiences, coma experiences, and after-death communications.
In addition to bearing enormous practical significance for healthcare, these interrelated experiences indicate that consciousness is more than a byproduct of brain chemistry. At the banks of the river Styx, consciousness may emerge from the dying brain like a phoenix, spreading its wings towards new horizons.
Programme
Round table
12-minute roundtable talk, by each person (with short 5-min Q and A), followed by general panel discussion and Q&A with audience.
Session 1: 4-6pm
Chair: Michael Nahm
4:00 pm – Michael Nahm – Introduction to Summit and Speakers
4:05 pm – Natasha Tassell-Matamua and Karalee Kothe – Cases of TL in Children (Prerecorded)
4:25 pm – Chris Roe – TL in Adults: New Case Collection
4:45 pm – Maryne Mutis – TL Through the Lens of the Witness
5:05 pm – Marjorie Woollacott – Implications for Healthcare and Models of Consciousness
5:25 pm – Panel Discussion
5:45 pm – Questions from the Audience
6:00 pm – Break
Session 2: 6.30-8.30pm
Chair: Marjorie Woollacott
6:30 pm – Michael Nahm – Clear Minds in Dysfunctional Brains
6:50 pm – Marieta Pehlivanova – An Updated Perspective on Near-Death Experiences
7:10 pm – Evelyn Elsaesser – (Crisis) After-Death Communications: A Universal and Comforting Experience Suggestive of Survival
7:30 pm – William Peters – The Shared Death Experience
7:50 pm – Panel Discussion
8:10 pm – Questions from the Audience
8:25 pm – Michael Nahm and Marjorie Woollacott – End
(free) Registration
Biographies
Michael Nahm, Ph.D., is a biologist and research associate at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg, Germany. His research interests focus on under-researched and unconventional phenomena in frontier areas of the sciences of life. These include various near-death phenomena, terminal lucidity, reincarnation cases, physical mediumship, hauntings and poltergeists, philosophical implications of such fringe phenomena, as well as theories and the history of psychical research. Nahm has published five monographs and more than 100 articles on these subjects.
Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Ph.D., has researched in the very specialised area of near-death and other exceptional experiences of consciousness for over 15 years. She investigates and writes about the implications of such experiences for enhancing understandings about the nature of consciousness, as well as their interface with spirituality, the environment, and Indigenous knowledges. She has published and presented extensively in the area. She is currently involved in research on terminal lucidity in children and adults, alongside an international team of experts.
Karalee Kothe, M.A., is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Denver, studying Clinical Health Psychology. Her research interests focus on end-of-life experiences, meaning in life, spirituality, understanding how our attitudes towards death affect our attitudes of life, and learning how to realize full human potential in clinical settings. She obtained her master’s degree at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University, in 2021. In her future career, she hopes to work at the intersection of science and spirituality.
Chris A. Roe, Ph.D., holds a Chair in Psychology at the University of Northampton, UK. He is the International Affiliate for England of the Parapsychology Foundation and is a Vice-President of the Society for Psychical Research. His research interests are around the phenomenology of paranormal experience, particularly as it affects wellbeing, as well as experimental approaches to test claims for extrasensory perception and psychokinesis, particularly where they involve psychological factors. Recent research has been concerned with the relationship between altered states of consciousness and psychic experience, and phenomena associated with survival of bodily death, including near-death experiences, terminal lucidity episodes, after-death communications, and mediumship.
Maryne Mutis, PhD., is a psychologist and associate researcher at the University of Lorraine, France. Her research focuses on exceptional end-of-life experiences and the grieving process. She wrote the world’s first thesis on the clinical aftereffects of terminal lucidity, which has led to numerous publications as well as national and international communications. She is currently engaged in post-doctoral research exploring the manifestations and boundaries of terminal lucidity.
Marjorie Woollacott, PhD, is an Emeritus Professor of Human Physiology, and member of the Institute of Neuroscience, at the University of Oregon. She is Research Director for the International Association of Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and is President of the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences (AAPS). She has published more than 200 scientific articles and written or co-edited eight books. Her latest book, Infinite Awareness (2015) (winner of eight awards) her research as a neuroscientist with her self-revelations about the mind’s spiritual power. Between the scientific and spiritual worlds, she breaks open the definition of human consciousness to investigate the existence of a non-physical and infinitely powerful mind. She is Co-Chair of the Galileo Commission, co-editor of Spiritual Awakenings and an Honorary Member of the SMN.
Marieta Pehlivanova, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences within the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s in Statistics from American University. Her research focuses on near-death experiences and children’s reports of past-life memories. She is interested in various aspects of these experiences, including cognitive, personality, and genetic factors contributing to their occurrence, veridical perceptions reported by experiencers, their impact, cross-cultural comparisons, and the development of supportive resources for experiencers within healthcare settings.
Evelyn Elsaesser is an independent researcher and author in the field of death-related experiences, notably after-death communications and near-death experiences. She is a team member of the research project “Investigation of the Phenomenology and Impact of Spontaneous After-Death Communications (ADCs)”, as well as a founding and current member of the Board of Swiss IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies). Her latest book Spontaneous Contacts with the Deceased – A large-scale international survey reveals the circumstances, lived experience and beneficial impact of After-Death Communications (ADCs) (2023) has been awarded a 2023 Scientific and Medical Network Book Prize.
William Peters, M.A., M.Ed., is the founder of the Shared Crossing Project and director of its Research Initiative (SCRI). He presents on extraordinary end-of-life experiences (shared crossings) and the benefits of conscious dying. William teaches methods designed to enable shared crossings for the dying and those who attend to them. He is a psychotherapist at the Family Therapy Institute in Santa Barbara. His two near-death experiences and various shared death experiences (SDEs) inform his work. William is the author of At Heaven’s Door: What Shared Journeys to the Afterlife Teach about Dying Well and Living Better (2022), the first research based general public book on the SDE.