1.  The substance/energy of the etheric level of existence in magical theory, also known by dozens of other names, such as akasha, od, orgone, vital life force, and vril. According to recent writers, it is identical with the prana of Hindu philosophy and the ch’i of Chinese medicine and martial arts. It is the basis of life and physical form, can be concentrated and directed by breath and intention, and can be felt directly by the human skin through the use of certain exercises. Magical lore relates it to the moon, which generates tides in the etheric atmosphere of the Earth.

The word “ether” was borrowed by nineteenth-century occultists from contemporary science, which postulated a “luminiferous ether” to explain the wavelike qualities of light and other electromagnetic radiation. This concept was discarded by scientist after the emergence of relativity theory at the beginning of the twentieth century, but the term was useful enough that it has been kept by many occultists.

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