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Orbs(religion, spiritualism, and occult)
When materialization medium C. V. Miller went to Europe in 1906, he visited Germany and gave a number of test séances at private residences in Munich. His materialization would often begin as luminous globes, orbs, or clouds appearing near the ceiling. Professor Charles Richet witnessed some of the sittings in Paris, France. C. deVesme reported in Annals of Psychic Science (#21, 1906), “A white ball, as of gas, about a quarter of a yard in diameter appeared in the air at the upper extremity of the curtains. Finally it came down, rested on the floor, and in less than a minute changed into a long shape, was transformed into a draped human form, which subsequently spoke.” In Looking Back (1955), British medium Arthur Findlay writes of a séance with the medium John Campbell Sloan, “Lights the size of half a crown floated about the room, but I could not catch them, however hard I tried.”
Sir William Crookes wrote in Researches In the Phenomena of Spiritualism (1874), “I have seen a solid luminous body, the size and nearly the shape of a turkey’s egg, float noiselessly about the room, at one time higher than anyone could reach on tiptoe, and then gently descending to the floor. It was visible for more than ten minutes, and before it faded away it struck the table three times with a sound like that of a hard solid body. During this time the medium was lying back, apparently insensible, in an easy chair.” Similar orbs were seen with the mediumship of William Stainton Moses.
Sometimes when photographs are taken, a small “orb” is seen on the print when developed. This is indicating psychic energy present, or is an indicator that spirit is with the person/people in the photograph. The orbs that are seen on many photographs may or may not have the potential for forming into materialized spirits. It probably depends upon the person in the photograph, and whether or not they have the potential to be a physical medium. It seems, however, that more and more photographs are showing these orbs.
Examination by experts have brought no explanations for the photographic orbs. They are not generally visible on negatives and they even show up on digital (negativeless) images, when there is no apparent fault with the camera or film used.