Julia Assante is an author, mediumand spiritualistwho claims to have been a mediumand psychicsince 1977. She also appears to be somewhat successful – her fees are steep – presumably, in part, because she also happens to possess a doctorate in Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East from Columbia University, something that shouldn’t give any credence to her inane rants but does make some people think she is smart. She has also given lectures on a variety of silly crackpot paranormaltopics, including remote viewingand energy healing.
Among Assante’s books are The Last Frontier: Exploring the Afterlife and Transforming Our Fear of Death, well known for its thick and obtuse layers of quantum wooand endorsement of various fraud “psychics” who have claimed to have scientifically proven the afterlife. The book claims for instance thatthe infamous Helen Duncanand her ectoplasm“spirits” were the real thing (they were really made from cheesecloth – this is not really a matter of controversy), as was the Irish medium Eileen Garrett, who purportedly channeledinformation from deceased persons from the R101 airship disaster, something that has has been thoroughly refuted. Assante doesn’t engage with the refutations. She also claims that reincarnationhas been scientifically proven.
But then, she has also said that“I don’t care about delineating imagination from reality, because for me reality’s a pretty slippery thing too.” Indeed.
Assante is also involved with past life therapy, and believes such therapy can cure many ills. Needless to say, it cannot.
Diagnosis: Yup: Riding the postmodernist train straight into Alex Jones country with the clown flag proudly flying. Yet people actually listen to her (probably mostly because she is ready to confirm, in an authoritative voice, whatever nonsense they wish were true.)
Hat-tip: Rationalwiki