od

Hypothetical luminous radiation emitted from every object, animate or inanimate. The theory was developed by a German industrial chemist, Baron Karl von Reichenbach (1788–1869).

Over a number of years, Reichenbach conducted a series of experiments with human subjects who could distinguish changes of temperature round the poles of a magnet, and, in the dark, were also able to see different colours emanating from the two poles (a bluish flame from the north pole, an orange flame from the south). He further found that luminous radiations were not confined to magnets, but that all substances, including the human body, radiated colour of some sort. He named this radiation after the Norse god Odin. Clairvoyants have always described the human body as giving off coloured emanations – the aura.