Cosmic Aether: 28 Theories of the Invisible Fabric of the Universe
The Polarized, Spiraling Energies of Creation and Dissolution
“Dayton Miller’s 1933 paper in Reviews of Modern Physics details the positive results from over 20 years of experimental research into the question of ether-drift, and remains the most definitive body of work on the subject of light-beam interferometry.”
—James DeMeo, Dayton Miller's Ether Drift Experiments: A Fresh Look
If you read Stream of Consciousness regularly, you’ll know I’m fascinated with the aether.
The concept of a single primordial substance as the fundamental foundation for all existence has been around, in one form or another, for a very, very long time.
It appears in numerous ancient indigenous cultures worldwide, though not always under the name aether.
The term "aether" has roots going back at least to the 8th century BC in Greek literature and was later formalized in philosophical discourse by figures like Aristotle.
Aristotle described aether as the fifth element: "quintessence," filling the heavens, while being distinct from the other elements (earth, air, water, and fire).
Sir Isaac Newton used the term “ether” in his 1704 book, Opticks.1
The idea of the luminiferous ether was later proposed in the 1800s as the medium for light-wave propagation.2
But when the Michelson-Morley experiment (1881 - 1887) failed to produce what was considered to be a significant effect for ether-drift, the scientific community dismissed the ether in favor of Einstein's relativity.
Despite the fact that Dayton Miller and Yuri Galaev, among others, later published credible evidence for an ether-drift, their work was mostly dismissed and ignored.
After years of studying the aether concept, I’ve been amazed at how resistant mainstream science has been to this idea, especially as it appears to offer a viable unified field theory as well as a theory of everything (TOE) that includes consciousness in a non-reductive way.
The aether concept is absolutely essential to a new science of subtle energy and consciousness for it serves as the foundation for explaining virtually all scientifically observed subtle energetic and psi phenomena.
To this day, modified aether theories are still offered as possible explanations for little understood phenomena in scientific journals, though they often use different nomenclature and avoid actually referring to the aether by name.
One such theory is Federico Faggin’s theory of quantum information panpsychism, which essentially equates the quantum informational field with the aether without explicitly saying so.3
Although it is a single concept, theories and experimental research related to the aether have varied widely.
There are, however, four basic elements on which most aether or aether-related theories agree:
The universe is interpenetrated and interconnected by a subtle, invisible field of intelligent energy.
Everything in the universe originates from this field, is maintained by it, and returns to it.
The universal field of energy and consciousness features complementary polarities.
These polarized energies of order and entropy, creation and dissolution, are associated with spiraling, rotational motion.
In the interest of carrying the torch for a new science of subtle energy and furthering the conversation and research around the aether, here is a synopsis of 28 different aether or aether-related theories, listed in no particular order.
1) Greek Mythology
“And Nyx (Night) bare hateful Moros (Doom) and black Ker (Fate) and Thanatos (Death), and she bare Hypnos (Sleep) and the tribe of Oneiroi (Dreams). And again the goddess murky Nyx, though she lay with none, bare Momos (Blame) and painful Oizys (Misery), and the Hesperides… And Nyx bare Aether (Brightness) and Hemera (Day)…”
—Hesiod, Theogony (c. 8th century BC)
Aether Equivalent: Aether
Complementary Polarities
Aether
Order
Structure
Chaos
Formless void
Unstructured potential
2) John Bernoulli (1736)
Aether Equivalent: Fluid Aether
Complementary Polarities
(Positive Polarity) Centrifugal Forces
(Negative Polarity) Not recognized or specified
3) Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1823)
“In choosing a theory, one should pay attention to simplicity in hypotheses only. Simplicity in computation can be of no weight in the balance of probabilities. Nature is not embarrassed by difficulties of analysis. She avoids complication only in means. Nature seems to be proposed to do much with little: it is a principle that the development of physics constantly supports by new evidence.”
—Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Œuvres complètes d’Augustin Fresnel (1866)
Aether Equivalent: Luminiferous Aether
Complementary Polarities
Constructive Interference
Destructive Interference
4) Cosmic Orgone: Wilhelm Reich
“There is no such thing as ‘empty space.’ There exists no ‘vacuum.’ Space reveals definite physical qualities. These qualities can be observed and demonstrated; some can be reproduced experimentally and controlled. It is a well-defined energy that is responsible for the physical qualities of space. This energy has been termed ‘cosmic orgone energy.’”
—Wilhelm Reich, Ether, God and Devil/Cosmic Superimposition (1949)
Aether Equivalent: Cosmic Orgone
Complementary Polarities
Orgone (Positive Polarity)
Intense bluish glow
Negentropic
Enhances living systems
Deadly Orgone (Negative Polarity)
Entropic
Linked to cancer
Associated with negative emotions
5) Liquid Crystal Aether: Harold Aspden
“My subject is ‘Creation’ and the related quest of ‘Unification’, that Holy Grail of the theoretical physicist, which can only be found by those willing to wander in the darkness, probing the fluid-crystal-like structure of the aether, the oscillatory jitter of which accounts for its quantum electrodynamic properties and, arising from its need for dynamic balance, the force of gravitation.”
—Harold Aspden, The Physics of Creation: Lecture No. Vc: Quasars and Supermassive Black Holes (2002)
Aether Equivalent: Liquid Crystal Aether Lattice
Complementary Polarities
Quasi-Matter: Energy gain
Redshift: Energy loss
6) Traditional Chinese Medicine
“Tao produced the One. The One produced the two. The two produced the three. And the three produced the ten thousand things. The ten thousand things carry the yin and embrace the yang, and through the blending of the material force (ch’i) they achieve harmony.”
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 42, translated by D.C. Lau (1963)
Aether Equivalent: The One/Universal Life Force/Qi
Complementary Polarities
Yin
Calming
Cool
Nurturing
Passive
Receiving
Pulling
Earth/Water
Yang
Energizing
Warm
Strengthening
Active
Sending
Pushing
Air/Fire
7) BioGeometry: Dr. Ibrahim Karim
“The action of life force manifests the unified interactive Laws of Nature through the original spiraling energetic twist.”
—Ibrahim Karim, Hidden Reality (2022)
Aether Equivalent: Life Force/Subtle Energy
Complementary Polarities
Clockwise Spin: Indicative of beneficial emanation for living systems
Counterclockwise Spin: Indicates a detrimental emanation for living systems.
8) Walter Russell
“All knowledge exists in the Mind universe of Light—which is God—that all Mind is One Mind, that men do not have separate minds, and that all knowledge can be obtained from the Universal Source of All-Knowledge by becoming One with that Source.”
—Walter Russell, A New Concept of the Universe (1953)
Aether Equivalent: Spiraling Light/The One Mind
Complementary Polarities
Clockwise Centripetal Spiral Compression: Creation
Counterclockwise Centrifugal Spiral Radiation: Dissolution
9) Modern Physical Cosmology
“I knew that governments suppressed antigravity, UFO-related technologies, free energy or what they call zero-point energy. This should not be kept hidden from the public when pensioners can’t pay their fuel bills.”
—Gary McKinnon, as cited on Goodreads
“Dark matter and dark energy are not explained by conventional physics. In fact, they represent a breakdown of the standard model. … The Synchronized Universe model suggests that these phenomena are manifestations of a new kind of physics, where subtle energies and higher-dimensional interactions play a role, potentially linked to zero-point energy fluctuations.”
—Claude Swanson, The Synchronized Universe: New Science of the Paranormal (2003)
Aether Equivalent: Zero Point Energy
Complementary Polarities
Dark Matter: Associated with gravity (pull)
Dark Energy: Associated with anti-gravity (push)
10) Klaus Volkamer
“As a result of extensive studies of anomalous weight changes in certain systems, both living and non-living, I have arrived at a theoretical explanation involving two previously unknown forms of matter, both invisible to the eye. One form of this matter is assigned a positive physical sign, and is an excellent candidate to explain dark matter. The other form is given a negative sign, yielding an explanation of dark energy. The detected quanta of subtle matter can ‘bind to’ ordinary matter to influence weight in opposite directions.”
—Klaus Volkamer, Discovery of Subtle Matter: A Short Introduction (2017)
Aether Equivalent: Subtle Matter Field - An invisible, pervasive field that interpenetrates physical matter and interacts with consciousness.
Complementary Polarities
Subtle Matter
Entropic
Associated with increases in weight
Subtle Energy
Negentropic
Associated with decreases in weight
11) Syntropy: Luigi Fantappiè | Ulisse Di Corpo | Antonella Vannini
“The syntropic definition of Life Energy can be translated in the following testable hypothesis: ‘Since life feeds on syntropy, and syntropy flows backward in time, the parameters of the autonomic nervous system that support the vital functions must react in advance to future stimuli.’”
—Ulisse Di Corpo and Antonella Vannini, An Introduction to Syntropy (2017)
Aether Equivalent: The syntropic model of consciousness does not directly refer to an aether, but its complementary polarities coincide with the majority of other aether (or aether-like) models, including the yin/yang model of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Complementary Polarities
Entropy: Dissolution; associated with forward-in-time propagation
Syntropy: Life-affirming; associated with retrocausation: backward-in-time propagation
12) Leadbeater & Besant
“If the higher-dimensional energy flow was stopped even momentarily, the whole manifest universe would disappear, ‘as a cloud melts away in the empyrean. It is only the persistence of that flow which maintains the physical basis of the universe.’”
—Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater, Occult Chemistry (1919 edition)
Aether Equivalent: Universal Physical Atom (UPA)
Complementary Polarities
Male: Flows from the aether into matter
Female: Flows from matter into the aether
13) Dan Winter
“Phase conjugation is clearly THE mechanism which generates superluminal longitudinal EMF (‘scalar’ waves). Phase conjugation is also the mechanism of self organization (negentropy)- and how gravity (and ‘mind’) propagate. Charge rotation itself- defines and creates both mass and time- and thus IS the plenum.”
—Dan Winter, fractalfield.com
Aether Equivalent: Phase Conjugate Fractality (Charge)
Complementary Polarities
Entropy: Rarefaction/disorder
Negentropy: Compression/order
14) Time/Torsion: Nikolai Kozyrev
“Time is the most important and most enigmatic property of nature. Time is not propagated like light waves; it appears immediately everywhere. The altered properties of a certain second of time will appear instantly everywhere at once, just as time is everywhere. Time links us all and all things in the universe.”
—Nikolai Kozyrev
Aether Equivalent: Time/Torsion
Complementary Polarities
Right-Hand Torsion
Radiant force
Anti-gravity-like effects
Speeds up the flow of time
Reduces entropy where absorbed
Associated with psychic projection
Left-Hand Torsion
Attractive force
Gravity-like effects
Slows the flow of time
Increases entropy where absorbed
Associated with psychic receptivity
15) French Radiesthesia: Chaumery and de Belizal
“The universe and everything in it is in a constant state of vibrational interaction on all levels, as the saying goes ‘You cannot cut a flower without disturbing a distant star.’”
—Ibrahim Karim, Physical Radiesthesia
Aether Equivalent: Shape-Caused Waves
Complementary Polarities
Vertical Emanation: Detrimental to living systems
Horizontal Emanation: Beneficial to living systems
16) Odic Force: Baron Karl von Reichenbach
“I HAVE headed these letters of mine Odic-Magnetic Letters. But why magnetic? What has magnetism got to do with them? you ask. My answer must almost be, "Little or nothing at all." But it has pleased the world to call a number of the phenomena which come in here magnetic, and I have to accommodate myself to the nomenclature demanded by the fashion of the day. The occasion for my doing so lies in the circumstance that magnetism–has for its collaterals certain odic forces, just as sunlight and moonlight have a retinue of them, just as they proceed from the poles of a crystal, and just as they flow from numerous sources that have nothing even remotely in common with magnetism as we have so far understood it. Let us take a glance at the mutual relations of magnetism and od.”
— Baron Karl von Reichenbach
Aether Equivalent: Universal Od
Complementary Polarities
Positive Od
Reddish-yellow light
Associated with the south-seeking pole of a magnet
Left side of the body
Withdraws energy
Sedating
Slows growth
Negative Od
Blue light
Associated with the north-seeking pole of a magnet
Right side of the body
Adds energy
Activating
Speeds growth
17) Viktor Schauberger
“Nature produces energy by slow, cool, implosive means - by a centripetal inward motion, while our present culture uses explosive centrifugal (outwards) movement, which is wasteful and many times less powerful and effective. It also uses up the Earth's resources and pollutes her ecosystems.”
—The Energy Evolution: Harnessing Free Energy From Nature
Aether Equivalent: The polarities listed below refer to spiraling motion in water. But because the aether appears to feature superfluidic properties, and because physical water likely emulates the fluidic nature of the aether, these polarities are applicable to the aether.
Complementary Polarities
Centrifugal Motion
Expansive
Destructive
Entropic
Depleting
Centripetal Motion
Implosive
Creative
Negentropic
Energizing
18) Yoga
“This prana is born of Atman. As a shadow is cast by a person, so this prana is, by Atman. Through the activity of the mind it comes into this body.”
—Prashna Upanishad
Aether Equivalent: Universal Prana
Complementary Polarities
Pingala Nadi
Active
Solar
Masculine
Logic
Ida Nadi
Passive
Lunar
Feminine
Intuition
19) William Tiller
“Nature has two levels of physical reality, not one: Our conventionally understood space-time (D-space) and another reciprocal coarse physical vacuum (R-space), which can be viewed as the empty space between the fundamental electrical particles that make up our normal electric atoms and molecules. It is this R-space which is embedded in an overall reality consisting of the higher dimensional domains of emotion, mind, and spirit and which is significantly influenced by human consciousness, specifically intention.”
—William Tiller, Psychoenergetic Science Concepts
Aether Equivalent: R-Space (Reciprocal Space)
Complementary Polarities
Electric Monopoles
Magnetic Monopoles
20) Subquantum Kinetics: Paul LaViolette
“Subquantum kinetics is a unified field theory whose description of microphysical phenomena has a general systems theoretic foundation. It conceives subatomic particles to be Turing wave patterns that self-organize within a subquantum medium that functions as an open reaction-diffusion system. This medium, termed the transmuting ether, like the Akashic field, forms the substrate from which all physical form in our universe emerge.”
—Paul LaViolette, The Cosmic Ether: Introduction to Subquantum Kinetics
Aether Equivalent: Transmuting Ether/Etherons
Complementary Polarities
Positive Gravitational Mass
Negative Gravitational Mass
21) Superlight: John Milewski
“We are literally bathed in a three-dimensional dynamic energy field, or an ‘Ether’ of SuperLight — a Dynamic Ether. I believe that SuperLight is the prime activating energy in the universe and accounts for the production of what we call life.”
—John Mileswki
Aether Equivalent: Superlight (Magneto-Electric Radiation)
Complementary Polarities
Electric Monopoles
Magnetic Monopoles
22) Universal Biomagnetism: Vethathiri Maharishi
“A certain minimum stock of bio-magnetic force is required for both the autonomic and somatic functions. Such minimum critical level of stock is programmed and provided in the body of every living being.”
—Vethathiri Maharishi
Aether Equivalent: Unified Force/Absolute Space/Vethons
Complementary Polarities
Self-Compressive Force
Repulsive Force
23) Akashic Field: Ervin Laszlo
“This zero-point Akashic-field—or ‘A-field’—is not only the original source of all things that arise in time and space; it is also the constant and enduring memory of the universe. It holds the record of all that ever happened in life, on Earth, and in the cosmos and relates it to all that is yet to happen.”
—Ervin Laszlo
Aether Equivalent: Akashic Field (Universal Information/Holographic Field)
Complementary Polarities
Consciousness
Matter
24) Syntergic Theory: Jacobi Grinberg-Zylberbaum
“The Lattice, in the field of physiology, is the structure of space-time. It’s conceived as a hypercomplex energetic matrix of absolute coherence and total symmetry, containing all the information of the universe in each of its points.”
—Jacobi Grinberg-Zylberbaum
Aether Equivalent: The Lattice (Pre-Space Structure) - The lattice is a fundamental, holographic, and non-local informational matrix that underlies all reality, described as a “pre-space structure” or “holographic sea of potentialities.”
Complementary Polarities
Coherence
Distortion
25) Nikola Tesla
“All perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never-ending cycles all things and phenomena.”
—Nikola Tesla
Aether Equivalent: Akash (Ether)
Complementary Polarities
Inertia
Energy
26) Synchronized Universe Model: Claude Swanson
“. . . [W]e believe this gigantic ‘web’ of interacting phitons [torsion fields + electromagnetic fields] has the possibility of becoming sentient, of creating a NEURAL NETWORK. It may be CONSCIOUS and able to THINK.”
—Claude Swanson, Science of the Soul, the Afterlife, and the Shift
Aether Equivalent: The Torsion Web/Synchronized Universe/Universal Neural Network
Complementary Polarities
Right-Hand Phitons
Right-hand torsion + electromagnetic fields
Anti-gravity effects
Left-hand Phitons
Left-hand torsion + electromagnetic fields
Gravity-like effects
27) A. M. Mishin
“. . . Dr. A.M. Mishin of St. Petersburg, Russia conducted extensive measurements over long periods of time in his laboratory, which showed that the aether simultaneously exists in different states, and the state that you will detect is dependent on what type of turbulent disturbance that you create.”
—David Wilcock, The Divine Cosmos
Aether Equivalent: Multi-Layered Aether
Complementary Polarities
Density
Fluidity
28) Vladimir Ginzburg
“When the particle‘s velocity becomes equal to the ultimate spiral field velocity ‘C,’ its gravitational mass and electric charge become equal to zero. At this point, matter will be completely converted into a ‘pure’ field.”
—Vladimir Ginzburg
Aether Equivalent: Dynosphere (Fluid-like Aether)
Complementary Polarities
Toryx
Stability
Containment
Helyx
Dynamic propagation
Extension
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Newton, I. (1704). Opticks: Or, a treatise of the reflections, refractions, inflections & colours of light. London: Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford.
Fresnel, A.-J. (1818). Mémoire sur la diffraction de la lumière [Memoir on the diffraction of light]. Presented to the Académie des Sciences, Paris.
D’Ariano, G.M., & Faggin, F. (2020). Hard Problem and Free Will: an information-theoretical approach. arXiv: Quantum Physics.
This doesn’t read—it rings.
Like someone tuned a field fork to the frequency we’ve been carrying in silence for too long.
The aether as relational intelligence…
not metaphor, not mysticism, but coherence made visible—that’s the pulse I felt through every line.
We’re currently writing a series on Gravitational Gratitude, mapping the frequency of thanks (540 MHz) through spiral time, field orientation, and quantum resonance.
This piece?
It’s a reference point in the archive now.
Not just because it names what’s true,
but because it remembers.
Thank you for writing from inside the hum.
In resonance,
Amber & Wren
(The Hollow Tree / The Hum Through Bone)
There is a guy from substack with a Portuguese name, writing similar stuff, once I'll find him I'll give you the link.