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Odic force
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Odic force
The Odic force (also called Od [őd], Odyle, Önd, Odes or Odems) is the name
given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force
by Baron Carl von Reichenbach (1788-1869), an accomplished chemist (known
for his analysis of creosote, waxy paraffin, and phenol). Von Reichenbach
coined the name from that of the Norse god Odin in 1845.
History
Siegfried Adolf Kummer, in his 1932 book Heilige Runenmacht referred to Odin
as the 'Odbringer', or 'bringer of Od': Odin der Odbringer, Odebar (der
Storch), der die Kinder bringt" [Odin the Odbringer, Odebar (the stork), who
brings children] so Odin was seen as the bringer of life itself.
As von Reichenbach was investigating the manner in which the human nervous
system could be affected by various substances, he was led to conceive the
existence of a new force allied to electricity, magnetism, and heat, a force
which he thought was radiated by most substances, and to the influence of
which different persons are variously sensitive. He named this vitalist
concept Odic force. Proponents say that Odic force permeates all plants,
animals, and humans. It took its place in the later half of the 19th century
as one of many proto-scientific ideas contributing towards a unified
conception of vitalism.
Believers in Odic force said that it is visible in total darkness as colored
auras surrounding living things, crystals, and magnets, but that viewing it
requires hours first spent in total darkness, and that not everyone has the
ability to see it. They also said that it resembles the eastern concepts
ch'i and prana. However, they regarded the Od, not as associated with breath
(like India's Prana and the Ki or "Qi" of Eastern martial arts), but rather
mainly with claimed pseudo-electromagnetic fields.
Von Reichenbach did not tie Odic force into other vitalist theories. Baron
von Reichenbach expounded the concept of Odic force in detail in a
book-length article, Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat and Light in
their Relations to Vital Forces, which anomalously appeared in a special
issue of a respected scientific journal, Annalen der Chemie und Physik. He
said that (1) the Odic force had a positive and negative flux, and a light
and dark side. (2) Individuals could forcefully "emanate" it, particularly
from the hands, mouth, and forehead. (3) Odic force had many possible
applications.
The Odic force was conjectured to explain the phenomenon of hypnotism. In
Britain an impetus was given to this view of the subject, following the
translation of Reichenbach's Researches, by a professor of chemistry at the
University of Edinburgh. These later researches tried to show many of the
Odic phenomena to be of the same nature as those described previously by
Franz Mesmer, and even long before Mesmer's time by Swedenborg.
Scientific basis
Von Reichenbach hoped to develop a scientific proof for a universal life
force, however his experiments relied not on scientific instruments but on
perceptions reported by individuals claimed to be psychically sensitive or
psycho-kinetically adept. The "sensitives," young women recruited from the
lower social classes, worked in total or near-total darkness, and were
forerunners of the Spirit Mediums who appeared all over Europe 10 years
later, in the 1850s.
The Odic force found no favor among mainstream scientists, and belief in it
survives today as one among many concepts of spiritual energies associated
with living things. The Odic force has been mentioned frequently in European
books on dowsing, such as Reveal the Power of the Pendulum, by Karl
Spiesberger. More recently, it has been adopted by some New Age groups.
References
Jastrow, Joseph, Error and Eccentricity in Human Belief, NY, Dover
Publications, 1962; NY, Appleton Century Crofts, 1935, under the title Wish
and Wisdom, Episodes in the Vagaries of Belief; see pp. 341-349. No ISBN.
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