Kirlian Photography
Named after Semyon Kirlian, an inventor and electrician from Krasnodar, Russia, this is a controversial technique for photographing objects in the presence of a high-frequency, high-voltage, low-amperage electrical field, the photographs of which show glowing, multicolored emanations said to be auras or biofields.
There is no evidence that Kirlian photography is a paranormal phenomenon. Some researchers say it reveals a physical form of psychic energy. Others believe that it reveals the etheric body, one of the layers of the aura believed to permeate all living things, and that an understanding of this energy will lead to greater insights into medicine, psychology, psychic healing, PSI, and dowsing.
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Critics say the technique shows nothing more than a discharge of electricity, which can be produced under certain conditions. Kirlian used his own hand for his first experiment, and photographed a strange glow radiating from the fingertips. He and his wife, Valentina, a biologist, experimented with photographing both live and inanimate subjects. Their work was brought to the attention of the West in the 1960s, and response in the scientific community was mixed. Kirlian photos are said to reveal health and emotion by changes in the brightness, colors, and patterns of the light. Experiments in the 1970s at the University of California showed changes in a plant's glow when approached by a human hand and pricked. When part of a leaf was cut off, a glowing outline of the amputated portion still appeared on film. Subsequent research found that the glow around humans similarly reflected changes in emotional state.
Psychic healers and Uri Geller were photographed with hares of light streaming from their fingertips when engaged in their respective activities.
Some Kirlian enthusiasts consider the phantom leaf phenomenon as evidence for the existence of an etheric body. However, critics say the phenomenon disproves Kirlian photography altogether — if there really was a biofield, then the aura should disappear when an organism dies. Supporters nonetheless foresee applications of Kirlian photography in diagnostic medicine.
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Belief in the emanation of vital energy from the body was present in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. Some authorities trace the existence of the aura in such scriptural instances as the bright light shining about Moses, which the children of Israel were unable to look upon, when he descended from the mountain bearing the stone tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments. In many of the sacred books of the East, representations of the great teachers and holy men are given with a halo of light extending round the whole of the body. In the sixteenth century Paracelsus discoursed on the astral body and its 'fiery' aura "the vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates round him like a luminous sphere, and it may be made to act at a distance;" the theory of animal magnetism advanced in the late eighteenth century by Franz Anton Mesmer provoked a variety of scientific experiments to try to isolate and identify the phenomena.
See Out-of-body Experience, Kirlian Photography, Astral Plane, Franz Anton Mesmer, Paracelsus, Astral Projection, Apparition, Altered State of Consciousness, ESP, Seance, Materialization, British Society for Psychical Research, Asport, Rappings, Automatic Writing, Findhorn, Glastonbury Scripts, Theosophy, Psychic Archaeology, Spiritualism, Poltergeist, Ghost, Parapsychology, Mystic Gifts and Charms - New Age Gift Shop & Wicca and Pagan Supplies, Love Spells -- Use these powerful love spells to help you find and keep your true love, The Tarot Store, Divination & Scrying Tools and Supplies, Unique Amulets, Talismans, Good Luck Charms, and Love Tokens, Powerful Witch Doctor Spell Kits, Powerful Spells - Cast by Andreika the Witch, Webmasters Make $$$, AzureGreen - Celebrating All Paths to the Divine, ISIS - Tools for Your Soul's Journey, and The Pyramid Collection - Myth, Magick, Fantasy and Romance.
Sources: (1) Spence, Lewis, An Encyclopedia of Occultism, Carol Publishing Group; (2) Dictionary of the Occult, Caxton Publishing.
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