What is Ectoplasm ? The science and spiritual .. or my theory of it anyway

Oh boy, where do I begin?
These are just my thoughts about what I have read in the past hour.

I got started thinking about it last night when I was showing my husband the post I did on T G Hamilton.
I was telling him how fake it looked and we were discussing how you never see it any more and that why do the faces in this ectoplasm always look similar to photographs.

Firstly, just as it is today, there are always fakes out there, people to make a buck... but with that comes those that are real. It's just distinguishing the two. I think that would be a whole other subject, if I don't keep with the one topic I go off in too many tangents, my thinking is like a tree.. always the "what ifs" which makes many many branches.. see tangent already.. OK

Firstly, why we never see it any more?
Well I believe we do, we see it all the time if my theory (well not mine), is what it is.
I think though at the time the early, thick mucous looking pictures were being taken, photographs were new.
The most credible photographs were taken under strict conditions :

We decided to endeavour to get these séances gradually stabilized on a more scientific plan
A special one-piece dress is kept in the séance room for the use of Mrs. Henderson, and she is always examined when changing into it by two of the ladies who may be sitting. She then goes straight to the séance chair, and her hands are held by the sitter on either side before the light is reduced to the good red light that is normally used.
When trance has been induced, Mrs. Henderson’s hands are freed, and shortly afterwards the control will tuck her thumbs into the edge of the curtain on either side. Then with the other fingers of each hand remaining distinctly in view she will draw the curtains in front of her body. Often in recent séances only one curtain has been used, and the fortunate sitter who is in the right position may see the gradual formation of the ectoplasm on the medium’s person. Before the close of the séance, the medium’s hands are again held by the official in charge, and thus all opportunity for any fraudulent manoeuvres on the part of the medium are practically eliminated. But a greater test of the genuineness of Mrs. Henderson’s work is the fact that for eighteen months, twice a week, she has been under the close observation of the officials of the Society
Obviously the next step was to endeavour to secure records of what was happening. With the hearty co-operation of the controls, and making the first attempt only when they authorized that being done, flashlight photographic records have been taken. The shock to the medium’s system is very great, and a matter of six weeks elapsed between the first and second photograph, a month between the second and third, and now as she is being accustomed to these shocks photographs can be taken fortnightly.

This is only a very brief excerpt from a whole story on Mrs Henderson and can be read fully by clicking on the text, it will take you to the source.

Back to my theories... so as you read it was "a shock to the medium's system", each time a photograph was taken.
This was because at the time of the flash the ectoplasm would flash back onto the mediums body, and cause them great pain. I read this elsewhere also, but can't find what I did with the link.

I think that for one reason alone is enough reason for mediums to no longer practice this.
But then there is the spiritual side, that when we come back to Earth, we have lessons to learn, our memories from the other side are forgotten ( or stored some place for later), and while we are sent messages etc from the other side, they are not to interfere.
While it is many string belief that there is another dimension, I don't think that it is our best intrests to really "know", as part of our learning there is to be faith, so while we see little images and hints that there is, there will never be outright proof that it is, as this will take away the need for Earth as we know.
In summation of that theory, as photographs were starting to be taken it was realised that, things which should not be seen were being captured and should not be, so had to cease.
That would explain also, why the ectoplasm would painfully go back into the mediums body on the flash going off?

In my theory that we do still see it, there are tons and tons of pictures out there of electric anomalies, like little streaks to misty scenes.
In fact I have a very good photograph of a friend she gave me with a really strong colourful misty aura streaking across her, in 2 consecutive pictures, you can see it's movement, what differs from a malfunction of the digital camera is that you can see it has moved in the 2 photos and the ones before and straight after it is gone.
And of course the BIG teller is that there is a perfect face in one of the shots, smiling he is!
I can't post it .. yet.. as I want to do the right thing and ask first to use it.

This is of course not the thick substance you see in the older pictures that people think of when they see ectoplasm.
In these old pictures, ectoplasm was the prelude to the medium being taken over by a spirit, and not long after, the medium's guide would then start to speak through the medium. Is this Trance mediumship?
I just had a quick look for any pictures or videos of people trance channelling and the very few I did find had nothing around them. Nor when they "came back" or the spirit left had any pain on return.
This is where is gets a little scientific and also might prove a true trance medium. That's not to say that some of them really believe they are for real, but again, the science is not there.
Where as the photographed mediums, science proves the work not only by photographs and controlled conditions but also real honest to goodness science.
But I will get to that in just a minute.

Why faces seem to always look like faces from photographs?

Well this is just my theory.. which is prolly way off, but I will put it out there anyway...
When a spirit from comes through and it wants itself to be known, the best way to do that is through your mental imagine of the person. In other words it is what your mind is interpreting.
Just have a think about it, how do you see a person that had died? I know there are many memories of that person, but if you had to define that person by a single imagie?

OK, here is where it gets a little scientific..lol

It gets pretty involved, but I am just going to try and put it simply and from what I have read.


Do these pictures look like anything to you? take away the colour and understand that it is in a controlled environment and what do you have or the beginnings of?

We see the first of the pictures all the time on ghost hunts etc.. in fact I caught one myself when on a ghost tour, it was only small but the same type of thing.
There was nothing shiny to reflect it and just before the picture I felt SO sick, like I was encased in something thick, thick air or something, anyway I told my hubby to take some pictures quick, and we got something exactly like the first picture only much much smaller, if that is not enough that it was "something", at the same time a girl who was also on the tour asked if I was feeling something and what I was feeling ( as I need to sit down I felt so sick), at the same time she yelled really loud "my camera battery's flat", which was weird, as experience has shown that power is usually drained from some place. Even the girl was getting all freaky at it as apparently the camera was almost full battery, and the coincidence of it happening then.
So in summation, I felt something, power was taken and something exactly like picture 1 was taken (though much smaller). Which would lead one to believe that spirit is trying to manifest.

Picture two... does this look familiar? Lots and lots of little orbs, forming into a mass?
Many many ghost hunting adventures we also see this, not as shown but in various stages.
Not all "orbs" captured on camera are spirit, we know this, however many many are, and many, when on closer inspection have shown proper faces, with no question.

So both of the pictures remind us of things we see many times during spirit related activities.. so what are they and what are the pictures of?

Well the pictures above are of Dark Matter, yes that's right... nothing "spiritual" at all.

Oh how I wish that somehow you coul just hook up something to your head to get the information across lol I don't know how to write it out without taking all day...

So are you intrigued? I was, but this is where I stopped let me show you how I got there...

I found this AWESOME article on Ethereal Body: The Quest for Ectoplasm by Marina Warner

These are just a few passages from the article that got my curiosity going:

The word ectoplasm, from the Greek ektos, "outside," and plasma, "something that can be formed or molded," as in plastic, first enters the discourse about spirit in Germany and France.³ It was borrowed from biological usage: the OED gives as its first citation a quotation from 1883 which discloses vividly the operating metaphor: "Its [the amoeba's] jelly-like body becomes faintly parceled out into an outer form (ectoplasm) and an inner soft (endoplasm) layer."⁴ It is further defined as "a viscous substance ... from which spirits make themselves visible forms... alive, sensitive to touch and light... cold to the touch, slightly luminous and having a characteristic smell...." In the 1920s, a French doctor who conducted numerous experiments expanded on the characteristics of the stuff: "The color white is the most frequent.... On touch ... it can seem soft and a bit elastic when it spreads; hard, knotty or fibrous when it forms strings.... Sometimes it gives the sensation of a spider's web fluttering over the observers' hand.... The substance is mobile. At one moment it evolves slowly, rises, falls, wanders over the medium, her shoulders, her breast, her knees, with a creeping motion that recalls that of a reptile..." The same witness warned, "Any touch will resonate painfully on [the medium]. If the touch is ever so slightly harsh or prolonged, the medium evinces pain compared to that which a shock to the quick would produce."⁵ After making its appearance, ectoplasm was re-absorbed into the medium's body
and
One of the most staunch supporters of the Society for Psychical Research, Sir Oliver, as he became, gamely persevered in the Einsteinian world with his theory of the Ether, a word which he always capitalized. It was "the tertium quid, the essential intermediary" between mind and matter. Ether itself was not "what we ordinarily speak of as matter," but nevertheless it was "a very substantial substance, far more substantial than any form of matter." "A physical thing ... the vehicle of both matter and spirit ... it is manifestly the vehicle or substratum underlying electricity and magnetism and light and gravitation and cohesion...."

The article is well worth the read, if you came to this post you must be interested, and the above link you will love!

So, In my head I there is an explanation for everything, just some things we don't know.
So I went looking for Ether and Einstein.
I found the address Albert Einstein delivered on May 5th, 1920, in the University of Leyden.

Ether and the Theory of Relativity

I am not going to quote from it, as you can read it yourself, and I skimmed over a whole lot till it got to the things I was interested in.
Basically, to what I understand, the thought is that there needs to be a medium or a go between for the immaterial and the material to converse or speak to each other.
It goes on in great detail the reasoning for this and you can read the above article to see this, but I don't want to confuse the reader... or myself for that matter trying to explain :P

So, how does that relate to ectoplasm? Well, we know that a person is body and spirit. This is a fact as when the body dies, well it is no longer animated or free thinking. If the physicality of the body alone was the generator of a free thinking being, in theory when stimulated by eletrical impulses or other means to bring the physical body back to life, the free thinking would return also.. but it doesn't.
Let alone that people interested in this have also seen research that there is communication from the other side. IF, it is another side and not just a different dimension.. but that is another post again....
So, as spirit and body are totally different things, for them to be as one and communicate with each other there needs to be something like a glue or medium for it to work.
This is where ectoplasm or Ether come in.

Like my little story above (which I will post one day in full), about capturing on camera "ectoplasm". After reading what you have so far would you not conclude that spirit was creating "ether" or a go between so they could be part of the physical (be it touch, sight, smell etc...
Let's get a little techy again, remember for the immaterial and material to converse there must be something to go between, like a translator.
Therefore, if spirit wanted to communicate with us "in physical form", in anyway, it would need to create that go between, translator (ether or ectoplasm), in order to do this.
Hence also that Ether uses electromagnetic fields and light.... lol EMF readings anyone?

Can you see where I am going with this?

This is why in most cases Ether (which we will call it from now on) is produced.
Be it in the form of electric looking strands, clouds, or orbs. As I read some place.. it is the "birthing fluid" or manifestation... though that was related to ectoplasm rather than ether or aether.

This could explain what I have said above, also the old pictures of thick ectoplasm, if they were channelling, the spirit going in our coming out of the body, remembering that spirit needs a translator also, we have our own, or it could be the mediums spirit removing itself in order for entry of another, that would explain why it was so painful on re-entry?

That also makes you wonder just how much real trance mediumship is for real? That is not to discount that they are not hearing dialogue in their head, but unless some physicality is shown externally (sometimes their face changes), we are lead to believe by science that it is not an actual "channel', a taking over of ones body, rather just voices and a great imagination or even showmanship. Remember some things can be very real to people... just think people with mental disorders, or people under the effects of LSD etc....

Ok I think I have babbled on long enough... it's so hard to get my thoughts onto paper.. there are so many!
OH... you ask why do you show pictures of dark matter when talking about ectoplasm and aether?
This is another awesome blog post and in depth and thorough.
IT is VERY long and I hope to read more soon! however if you wonder where the theory of dark matter came from please go here and read this. :)

Dark Matter or Ether

Basically, Dark Matter, as they like to call it now days, IS aether or ectoplasm. As it is being used more in astronomy and the buildings of the universe more nowdays they wanted to get away from the previous titles as they didn't want the connection with spiritualism.
Infact they believe Dark matter to be the budiling blocks of the universe... well duh? didn;t we just establish that for the immaterial to "be" it needs a medium?

Just as a little addendum... I don't understand how scientists get any further nowdays, in order to find new things there must be theories.. or the philosophers of old.
They think up would "could be" and then the scientists work out how.
If there is no theorists open to to "what could be" in all manner of things, including spiritualism, how are the scientists to precede to either prove or disprove it?

Anyway... I am just a housewife and these are just my thoughts.. I could be WAY off mark....

Now back to my housewife duties :)


p.s. sorry for any crappy typing, mistakes etc.. generally I go over it real quick because my head works faster than I can type so often I type really badly or wrong...BUT I have spent to much time typing this all out etc today .. must get to my chores! So sorry :)