ABSTRACT

In the realm of paranormal studies, there is a small niche devoted to understanding those eccentric theorists and practitioners who explore the larger cosmos, the air or atmosphere that surrounds and infuses us, a living energy with its own powers, flow, or force. Whether spiritualists exploring the ether, traditional Chinese practitioners of QiGong studying the movements of chi, Vendatic philosophers understanding the movement of prana, Henri Bergson’s conceptualizing élan vital (1907), or Wilhelm Reich’s developing a theory of orgone energy, there is a small subset of psychics, spiritualists, philosophers, religious figures and eccentric scientists who study or have studied the imaginary flow of living energy through the air and the body. Such theorists and practitioners typically believe that one’s health and well-being depend on the circulation of these mysterious, living energies through the body and the atmosphere, and contemporary students of paranormal theories and behaviors would do well to study this rich and fecund area of research.