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The Odic force (also called Od [õd], Odyle, Önd, Odes, Odylic, Odyllic, or Odems) is the name given in the mid-19th century to a hypothetical vital energy or life force by Baron Carl von Reichenbach. Von Reichenbach coined the name from that of the Norse god Odin in 1845.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 2 Scientific basis 2.1 Popular culture 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

As von Reichenbach was investigating the manner in which the human nervous system could be affected by various substances, he conceived 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.

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 prana and qi. However, they regarded the Odic force, not as associated with breath (like India's prana and the qi of Eastern martial arts), but rather mainly with biological electromagnetic fields.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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 poorer 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] Popular culture

• The power of Od is the focal point of an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theater about von Reichenbach.
• Od is used in Fate/Stay Night as magical energy humans can produce.
• The Odyll force is a small focal point of Hollow People by Brian Keaney.
• The magic used by Schierke in the manga Berserk is called Od.

[edit] 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.

[edit] See also

• Aether (classical element)
• Aether theories
• Energy (spiritual)
• Etheric body (Spirituality)
• Etheric plane (Spirituality)
• Kirlian photography
• Magic
• Mana
• Manna
• Orgone
• Phlogiston
• Prana
• Qi
• Seid
• The Force, in the Star Wars fiction
• Vitalism
• Vril

[edit] External links

• Odin Force Definition in An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
• Researches on Magnetism, Electricity, Heat and Light in their relations to Vital Forces
• Luminous World
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.