The Odic force 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.

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.

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. They also said that it resembles the eastern concepts prana and qi. However, they regarded the Odic force not as associated with breath, but rather with biological electromagnetic fields.

Reichenbach stated that through experimentation possibly one third of the population could view the phenomenon. Colleagues who were medical doctors in England claimed to have witnessed it, and discussion on the subject matter continues into the present day, with some claiming to be able to see it on sunny days with clear skies.

Radionics is the use of blood, hair, a signature, or other substances unique to the person as a focus to supposedly heal a patient from afar. The concept behind radionics originated in the early 1900s with Albert Abrams. Radionics is not based on any scientific evidence, and contradicts the principles of physics and biology.

According to radionics practitioners, a healthy person will have certain energy frequencies moving through their body that define health, while an unhealthy person will exhibit other, different energy frequencies that define disorders. Radionic devices purport to diagnose and heal by applying appropriate frequencies to balance the discordant frequencies of sickness.

In one form of radionics, some blood on a bit of filter paper is attached to a device Abrams called a dynamizer, which is attached by wires to a string of other devices and then to the forehead of a healthy volunteer, facing west in a dim light. By tapping on on his abdomen and searching for areas of “dullness”, disease in the donor of the blood is diagnosed by proxy. Having done this, the practitioner may use a special device known as an oscilloclast to broadcast vibrations at the patient in order to attempt to heal them.

Albert Abrams claimed to detect such frequencies and cure people by matching their frequencies. He developed thirteen devices and became a millionaire leasing his devices. The American Medical Association described him as the “dean of gadget quacks,” and his devices were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by Scientific American in 1924.

Modern practitioners now conceptualize these devices merely as a focusing aid to a practitioner’s dowsing abilities, and claim that there is no longer any need for the device to have any demonstrable function. Indeed, Abrams’ black boxes had no purpose of their own, being merely obfuscated collections of wires and electronic parts.

Dietary minerals are the chemical elements required by living organisms, other than the four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen present in common organic molecules. Some sources state that thirteen dietary minerals are required to support human biochemical processes by serving structural and functional roles.

Potassium is a systemic electrolyte and is essential in coregulating ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate, a transporter of chemical energy within cells for metabolism with sodium). Dietary sources include legumes, potato skin, tomatoes, and bananas.

Chloride is needed for production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and in cellular pump functions. Table salt is the main dietary source of chloride.

Sodium is a systemic electrolyte and is essential in coregulating ATP with potassium. Dietary sources include table salt, sea vegetables, milk, and spinach.

Calcium is needed for muscle, heart and digestive system health, to build bones, and support synthesis and function of blood cells. Dietary sources of calcium include dairy products, canned fish with bones (salmon, sardines), green leafy vegetables, nuts and seeds.

Phosphorus is a component of bones, cellular energy processing and many other functions. In biological contexts it is usually observed as phosphate.

Magnesium is required for processing ATP and for bones. Dietary sources include nuts, soy beans, and cocoa.

Zinc is pervasive and required for several enzymes such as carboxypeptidase, liver alcohol dehydrogenase, and carbonic anhydrase.

Iron is required for many proteins and enzymes, notably hemoglobin. Dietary sources include red meat, leafy green vegetables, fish (tuna, salmon), eggs, dried fruits, beans, whole grains, and enriched grains.

Manganese is a significant cofactor in many enzyme functions.

Copper is a required component of many redox enzymes, including cytochrome.

Iodine is required for the biosynthesis of thyroxine.

Selenium is a cofactor essential in activity of antioxidant enzymes like glutathione peroxidase.

Molybdenum subsists in the oxidases. Xanthine oxidase, aldehyde oxidase, and sulfite oxidase all contain significant quantities of molybdenum.

Mental energy is the concept of a principle of activity powering the operation of the mind, soul or psyche. Energy in this context is used as the literal meaning of the activity or operation. Mental energy has been defined as the driving force of the psyche, emotional as well as intellectual.

Just as physical energy acts upon physical objects, psychological energy acts upon psychological entities or thoughts. Psychological energy and force are the basis of an attempt to formulate a scientific theory according to which psychological phenomena would be subject to precise laws akin to how physical objects are subject to laws of physics. This concept of psychological energy is completely separate and distinct from the mystical eastern concept of spiritual energy.

In The Ego and the Id, Freud argued that the id was the source of the personality’s desires, and therefore of the psychic energy that powered the mind. Freud defined libido as the instinct energy or force, and later added the death drive, also contained in the id, as a second source of mental energy. In 1928, Carl Jung published a seminal essay entitled On Psychic Energy. Later, the theory of psychodynamics and the concept of psychic energy were developed further.

Studies have found that mental effort can be measured in terms of increased metabolism in the brain. Mental energy has been repeatedly compared to or connected with quantitative physical energy. The concept of psychodynamics was proposed with the idea that all living organisms are energy systems also governed by this principle.

A dakini is a tantric deity described as a female embodiment of enlightened energy. In the Tibetan language, dakini means she who traverses the sky or she who moves in space. Sometimes the term is translated poetically as sky dancer or sky walker.

Although dakini figures also appear in Hinduism, they are particularly prevalent in Vajrayana Buddhism where the dakini, usually of volatile or wrathful temperament, act as an inspirational thoughtform for spiritual practice. Dakinis are energetic beings in female form, evocative of the movement of energy in space. In this context, the sky or space indicates the insubstantiality of all phenomena, which is at the same time the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.

In Hinduism, the dakini Chinnamasta is one of the ten Tantric goddesses and is associated with the concept of self sacrifice as well as the awakening of the kundalini or spiritual energy. She is considered both as a symbol of self control as well as an embodiment of sexual energy. She symbolizes both aspects of the Hindu Divine Mother, as a life giver and a life taker.

Due to her ferocious nature and her reputation of being dangerous to approach and worship, her individual worship is restricted to heroic, Tantric worship by Tantrikas, yogis and world renouncers. Chhinnamasta can be easily identified by her fearsome iconography. The self decapitated goddess is usually depicted standing on a copulating couple. She holds her own severed head in one hand and a scimitar in the other. Three jets of blood spurt out of her bleeding neck and are drunk by her severed head and two attendants.

Prosperity is a state of flourishing, thriving, success, or good fortune. Prosperity often encompasses wealth, but also includes others factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health.

Many distinct notions of prosperity, such as economic prosperity, health, and happiness, are correlated or even have causal effects on each other. Economic prosperity and health are well established to have a positive correlation, and there is evidence that happiness is a cause of good health, both directly through influencing behavior and the immune system, and indirectly through social relationships, work, and other factors.

In Buddhism, prosperity is viewed with an emphasis on collectivism and spirituality. This perspective can be at odds with capitalistic notions of prosperity, due to their association with greed. Data from social surveys show that an increase in income does not result in a lasting increase in happiness. One proposed explanation to this is due to hedonic adaptation and social comparison, resulting in people not allocating enough energy to non-financial goals such as family life and health.

Economic notions of prosperity often compete or interact negatively with health, happiness, or spiritual notions of prosperity. For example, longer hours of work might result in an increase in certain measures of economic prosperity, but at the expense of driving people away from their preferences for shorter work hours. In ecology, prosperity can refer to the extent to which a species flourishes under certain circumstances.

A thoughtform is a manifestation of mental energy, also known as a tulpa in Tibetan mysticism. The thoughtform is also one of the expressed or visualized means of Samyama, a particular system of teaching or doctrines, often embodied as a set of vows or commitments. Recited mantras are essentially thoughtforms representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound vibrations.

Definitions have been suggested for thoughtforms, such as that of an image held in the mind of a practitioner which aids in the manifestation of intention. It has also been proposed as an agency of psychic effect which exists and takes form in the pre-physical realms of existence, which acts in accord with the intent of its creator.

It connates a homunculus or foundation of awareness, or an instantaneous observer and observed duality. Homunculi appear in various theories of cognitive philosophy and psychology to account for different facets of conscious self. They are created by every individual at every moment, and in some formulations they are a constant manifestation of everyone at every moment, possessing a will of its own.

Thoughtforms are said to have two effects, a radiating vibration and a floating form. They are divided into three classes – those which take the image of the thinker, those which take the image of a material object, and those which take a form entirely of its own, expressing the inherent qualities in the matter which it draws around it.

It has been theorized that the effects of music, emotion and color strongly influence thoughtforms.

A prayer wheel is a cylindrical object on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather, or coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit externally on the wheel. Sometimes Dakinis, Protectors, and very often the eight auspicious symbols known as Ashtamangala are depicted. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.

It is said that prayer wheels are used to accumulate wisdom and merit, and to purify negativities such as bad karma. The idea of spinning mantras comes from numerous Tantric practices where the Tantric practitioner visualizes mantras revolving around the meridian chakras such as the heart and crown. Therefore, prayer wheels are a visual aid for developing one’s capacity for these types of Tantric visualizations.

The spiritual method for those practicing with a prayer wheel is very specific. The practitioner most often spins the wheel clockwise, for the direction the mantras are written is that of the movement of the sun across the sky. Before, during and after the practitioner turns the wheel, it is best to focus the mind and repeat the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra, as this increases the merit earned by the wheel’s use. However, it is said that even turning it while distracted has benefits and merits, and that even insects that cross a prayer wheel’s shadow will gain some benefit.

Some prayer wheels are powered by electric motors. Thardo Khorlo, as these electric wheels are sometimes known, contain one thousand copies of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum and many copies of other mantras. The Thardo Khorlo can be accompanied by lights and music if one so chooses. However, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said, “The merit of turning an electric prayer wheel goes to the electric company. This is why I prefer practitioners to use their own right energy to turn a prayer wheel”.

The Dalai Lama has commented that animations on websites work just as well as other prayer wheels. As the animated image turns, waves of compassion emanate in all directions to the surrounding area. Some have suggested that the spinning of a hard drive at several thousand rotations per minute can act in similar function to a prayer wheel by saving an image of Om mani padme hum or other mantras on a local computer or server.