Kirlian Photography and the “Aura”
It is fairly rare for pseudoscientists (except medical
quacks) to use any kind of gadget, and it is almost unheard of for
pseudoscientists to deal with any actual, existing phenomenon. Where a real
phenomenon is involved, it is generally well known to science but almost
totally unknown to the general public, so that it can be publicized and
accepted as a “revolutionary new-age discovery.” The classic example is that of
Kirlian photography, named for Russian electrician Semon Davidovich Kirlian. In
1939, Kirlian made a “discovery” well known to physicists and electrical
engineers since the earliest days of photography — namely, that an electric spark can “take its own picture” as
it passes through a photographic emulsion. Being scientifically illiterate,
Kirlian decided he was photographing something “supernatural,” specifically,
the “human energy field.”
There are two ways of taking such photographs. Needed is a
high voltage (20 to 100 kilovolt), high frequency 100 to 200 kilohertz)
alternating current supply — the sort devised by Nikola Tesla at the turn of
the century. One end of the circuit is attached to an electrode above a piece
of film; the other end is attached to an identical electrode below the piece of
film. An object placed between one electrode and the film, or between two
pieces of film sandwiched between the electrodes, sparks to the electrodes my
means of what are called “streamers,” tiny tubes of ionized air that can
conduct electrical current. These tubes are formed by electrons being rapidly
accelerated by the strong electric field near the electrodes, and near any
sharp point or strongly curved surface feature of the object between the film
and the electrodes. These rapidly accelerated electrons collide with air
molecules, knocking out other electrons, in a kind of avalanche that dies out
after a short distance, producing a short hair-like extension of plasma
(molecules missing electrons, plus the free electrons) that emits visible light
(due to recombination of electrons with molecules, and due to impact-excitation
of the molecules). This is the “streamer.” These streamers can be photographed
directly with a regular camera, but they can also be caused to create a
beautiful photograph on the naked pieces of film between the electrodes … the
film emulsion itself becomes ionized, like the surrounding air, and the light
from the streamer at the film surface or actually within the film emulsion
layers exposes the film directly.
The second way of taking such a photograph involves
grounding one electrode of the AC power supply and placing a dielectric slab on
the other. A piece of film is then placed on the slab, and any object placed on
the film directly then sends streamers through the film to the electrode.
Any object whatsoever, placed on the film in the second
method, or between two films in the first method, will “take” a beautiful
photograph as streamers leave any “bumpy” features of the object and pass
through the film. Kirlian himself had no idea of anything we have described,
although as we have said, these sorts of pictures of streamers have been taken
for more than 100 years (engineers usually call them Nasser photographs) and
the streamer phenomenon is perfectly understood. To Kirlian, the “fuzzy” field surrounding
any object in the photographs was a photograph of “the aura,” a pseudoscience
concept inherited from Madame Blavatsky, who in turn drew it from Eastern
mysticism. As Madame Blavatsky had it, the aura is an invisible envelope that
surrounds all objects in nature, both living and non-living; “a psychic
effluvium partaking of both the mind and the body, as it is the electro-vital
and at the same time electro-mental aura, called in Theosophy the akasic or
magnetic.” I hope that’s clear! Madame Blavatsky and her followers could, of
course, “see” this aura and diagnose diseases and mental states from its
inspection. “Aura reading” is still used today by some readers as the “gimmick”
on which to hang list, formula, and cold readings.
For obvious reasons, Kirlian was totally ignored by Russian
scientists. But in 1962, as an elderly retired dodderer in a garage
“laboratory,” he was written up in the Russian press and popular magazines as a
“great discoverer.” Western journalists and pseudoscientists quickly made the
pilgrimage and came back to Europe and the U.S. ready to “study the aura” or
“probe the bioenergy field” with their high-voltage power supplies and sheet
film from Polaroid or Kodak.
The usual modest claims immediately followed: (1) Kirlian photography was able to
distinguish between living and non-living objects (there might be an easier way
to do that!). (2) Kirlian photography could be used to diagnose diseases of all
kinds and even to identify emotional states. (3) Kirlian photography could be
used to predict the future — frequently people were diagnosed by Kirlian aura
as having a certain disease, but upon medical examination were found not to
have it; however, later they did get it! (4) No satisfactory Kirlian
photography could be obtained if the experimenters were skeptical, upset, ill,
nervous, etc. (5) Kirlian photos showed parts of objects even after those parts
had been cut off the objects and then thrown away. Usually leaves were used for
this “demonstration,” hence the name “phantom leaf effect.” (6) Psychics or
other supernaturally gifted individuals have unusually dramatic Kirlian photos
(the part usually photographed being a fingertip or thumb, since the object has
to be in direct contact with the film).
Newspaper reports about the wonders of Kirlian photography
often resulted in calls to physicists, engineers or biologists (none of whom
would even know what the word meant!) as to why they too were studying the
human energy field. Attempts by knowledgeable experts to explain what was going
on led to still further confusion. For instance, the “Kirlian Aura” was often
confused with the fact that a human body (and every other object in the
universe that is not at absolute zero temperature) emits electro-magnetic
radiation. A human being emits about the same power (100 Watts) in infrared
radiation that a standard light bulb does in visible radiation. This has
nothing whatsoever to do with “Kirlian” photography.
When scientists finally got around to trying the kinds of
things that pseudoscientists had piddled with, they found the “information
channel” of streamer photography is so “noisy” that in uncontrolled conditions
the pictures obtained vary randomly. Differences in photos stem from: (1) different types of films used (e.g.,
whether the film base is opaque or transparent, how dyes are distributed
between different layers in color films, etc.). (2) How clean the finger is (a
normal finger produces a very different photo than the same finger cleaned with
alcohol or acetone). (3) How moist the finger is (a normal finger produces a
very different photo than the same finger wet with perspiration or saliva). (4) The absolute humidity of the air
in the room where the photo was taken. (5) Overall changes in skin resistance
during the taking of a series of photos. (6) What types of soles are on one’s
shoes (leather, rubber, plastic, etc.). Tremendous changes can be made in
photos by removing or changing shoes. (7) Whether a photo is first of a series
or in the midst of a series or end of a series makes a tremendous difference,
since the streamers “clean off” the finger gradually, making the image denser
the longer you “run.”
To cause the tremendous change from one photo to the next
attributed to “psychic” energy release, it is only necessary to touch a metal
table leg or chair with some part of your body, or to press with widely varying
pressures against the film with the fingertips. Inserting a tiny piece of
cellophane from a cigarette package, or a mylar sheet, between the film and
your fingertip while the “experimenter” is not looking also causes a dramatic
difference in the pictures obtained.
The “phantom leaf” effect is produced by pressing the leaf
against the film base as you cut a piece off. The pressure forces moisture out
of the leaf and thus forms an outline of the leaf against the film. Streamers
from this moisture show the “whole leaf” even though only part of the leaf
remains, or all of the leaf is removed.
Similar photos can be made with any object which can be
pressed against or sandwiched with the film, Coins are particularly good! A Kirlian photo of an artificial plastic or
cloth flower is just as full of “bioelectric energy aura” as a photo of a dead
flower or a living flower … provided the part of the “flower” that touches the
film is equally moist in all cases.
There is no dependence whatsoever of the Kirlian photos on
any distinctive characteristic of the individual, not on emotional state, not
on health, not on “psychic abilities” whatever those are, or on anything else.
The channel is so noisy that such things would not show up in the usual
pseudoscientist’s “study” even if such dependences did exist; the noise due to
uncontrolled variations in the way the photos were taken would swamp any such
variations! Kirlian photography has no known practical applications, other than
those inherited from the 19th century … finding out just where
sparks are most likely to take place in an electrical system.
In pseudoscience and occult literature there is yet another
concept frequently confused with Kirlian photography and the aura. (Confusion
is a dominating tactic of pseudoscience.) Looted from the Eastern religious
cult of Kundalini yoga, without any attempt to understand its cultural context
or function within the religion, is the notion of the “Chakra.” Crudely, the
idea is that every human being has a “subtle body” or spirit double, a ghostly
twin that occupies the same space and has the same shape as the body, but is
“nonmaterial” (whatever that means). This subtle body has seven (of course)
major centers of “psychic energy,” located along the subtle body’s spinal
column. These seven centers are the chakras. For a fee, you can learn to
activate your “kundalini,” a kind of ectoplasmic cockroach. This cockroach can
be sent crawling up the spinal cord of the subtle body, activating each chakra
in turn. The first chakra is at the genitals, the second on the navel, and so
on, the seventh being just at the top of the head. Naturally, the genital
chakra is the easiest for the poor kundalini to crawl to (does it start from
the toes or knees or hips?) and the top-of-the-head chakra is the hardest and
most expensive to reach. Many recent “wholistic healing arts,” such as polarity
therapy, have adopted this gibberish, and it is often muddled together with
pyramid power, Kirlian photography, chiropractic, the aura, etc., etc., etc.
Also related is the 19th century Spiritualist
conception of “ectoplasm.,” Nineteenth century mediums frequently caused
substances to “extrude” from their bodies. These “psychic structures” or
“spiritual substances” varied from medium to medium. Eusapia Palladino for
Prof. Charles Richet in 1895 produced motion of tables with her very own foot
and hand; for Prof. Baron von Schrenck-Notzing, Marthe Beraud in the 1910s
produced cloth, paper and cotton. Ordinary pocket handkerchiefs rolled into
cylinders, and forms cut out of liver and lung tissue from butcher shops, were
also popular. Again the concept of “ectoplasm” (the tissue of which the “subtle
body” is composed?) is unrelated to Kirlian photography, the aura, or anything
else we have talked about so far. By mixing it all together the pseudoscientist
uses his usual shotgun approach to
overwhelm the uncritical listener with a mass of claims and concepts …
with so much talk and activity, there must surely be something there, right?
Wrong.
Acknowledgments
ASTOP – The Austin Society to Oppose Pseudoscience – has
prepared fact sheets on various pseudoscience topics for the benefit of
teachers and others interested in promoting critical thinking. Dr. Rory Coker,
Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, is the author of
this fact sheet. The International Cultic Studies Association (formerly American Family Foundation), a professional research and
educational organization concerned about the harmful effects of cultic and
related
involvements,
prints and helps distribute these fact sheets. Because ASTOP fact sheets seek
to stimulate critical thinking, rather than advance a particular point of view,
opinions expressed are those of the authors. These fact sheets may be copied
for educational purposes, but they may not be reproduced for resale.
