Photography of the mind
Armando Salas Portugal
from May 29, 2013 to July 27, 2013
Selected exhibition in the Festival OFF . PHOTOESPAÑA 2013.
Armando Salas Portugal. Photography of the Mind
From 1967 to 1971, he carried out an experiment related to mental strength, in which he combined his skills in the field of chemistry and photography, with the power of meditation and thought, using them as an inspiring source, thus achieving an extensive production of abstract images in black and white and color, which he called Numinal Photography or Thought Photography. Photographs of abstract language, kept by the author, in strict secrecy.
"Thought that looks for traces and symbols in the luminous echo that moves and boils in us. Thought that surrounds and captures forces and essences that turn in time, and the images arrive in the current of the sidereal rivers and in the lights that are only guessed at in the solitude of infinity. A thought that penetrates the remote roots where forms and dreams are born." Armando Salas Portugal, 1968.
Initial findings of Radionics
LOS GURWITSCH
From 1924 to 1926, Gurwitsch and his wife Lidia, a medical psychiatrist, reiterated that radiation in the entire animal and plant kingdom is a universal phenomenon, calling it "mitogenetic" radiation.
Lidia G. Gurwitsch discovered that blood also emits radiation that is intensified when the body is exposed to ultraviolet radiation or solar rays.
K. BOHMER Y W. CHRISTIAN
K. Bohmer and W. Christian, in subsequent reports, determined that menstrual blood and urine emit radiation. Irradiation that is higher in younger individuals.
BRAINES
Psychiatrist Braines proved that silent, indifferent schizophrenics have little irradiation; on the other hand, maniacs, or those in continuous movement, radiate intensely.
RODIONOW, AUDEBER, VAN DOORMAL, BORODIN
Rodionow, Auduber, Van Doormal, Borodin, among others, proved that all living tissues radiate energy, whether animal or vegetable. In their experiments with inorganic chemical reactions, activated by ultraviolet or solar light, they also obtained radiation.
DR. OTTO RAHN
In 1932, Dr. Otto Rahn, in a book of his authorship, compiled the experiences and studies carried out by several researchers, related to radiation. Rahn explained that certain people have the faculty of emitting radiation at will, in the range of 2,000 Angstroms, with beneficial or maleficent intentions.
S. P. SCHURIN, V. K. KAZNACHEYEV, L. MIKHAILOVA
In 1972, S. P. Schurin, V.K. Kaznacheyev, L. Mikhailova, researchers at the Nobosibirsk Institute of Experimental Medicine in Russia, described that living cells receive information through special electromagnetic radiation.
PFEIFFER
In 1955, Pfeiffer, a follower of the philosopher Steiner, studied human pathology, revealing that the blood of sick people crystallized in a characteristic way, determined by the "nosological" entity that affected the person, due to the radiation of the blood.
He obtained the crystallographic image of the blood of a sick subject; after hemolizing and adding a specific homeopathic remedy, according to the symptoms of the disease, he obtained a crystallization model similar to normal blood.
KIRLIAN SEMION
Around the 1940s, Kirlian discovered the electrographic technique to photograph the bioplasm or aura surrounding the human body. Kirlian demonstrated that alterations in the aura spectrum also discovered by electro photography, the edges of "the ghost leaf". He proceeded to cut a piece of a leaf, by means of the technique of electro photography he obtained a photo, where the original borders of the leaf were appreciated as if it was complete.
ALBERT ABRAMS
Albert Abrams, American scientist, considered the "father of Radionics".
In 1910, Dr. Abrams performed routine examinations on his patients, using a physical examination technique known as percussion.
Abrams began to perform experiments using healthy young men, which he attached by means of an electrode to the sick patients, as well as to pathological tissues, in order to diagnose various diseases.
Abrams continued to experiment with this "electronic" energy. First he had a special box built with variable resistance (in ohms units), in order to discriminate and filter the different frequencies of diseases, comparing healthy and sick patients. The method is recognized as "Abrams' electronic reaction". The instrument was the first radionic apparatus in the history of the specialty.
RUTH DROWN
Ruth Drown, a chiropractor and disciple of Dr. Abrams, also discovered a radio vision camera through which they obtained photos of diseased organs, using a drop of blood as a witness. It is believed that these photographs were obtained due to her elevated psychic perception.
In spite of the virtuous treatments obtained by the chiropractor Ruth Drown was persecuted by the political and economic power organisms, controlled by the merkava in the USA, particularly by the judicial system and the medical professionals. After a long battle in the courts of justice, she was sentenced to prison.
The persecution of Radionics practitioners reached such a point that the mere possession of a Radionic device by a doctor was punished. They were treated like any common criminal, imprisoned without a trial. Radionics became a punishable offence in some States of the American Union.
T. GALEN HIERONYMOUS
T. Galen Hieronymous discovered an instrument to measure the energetic emanations of organic and inorganic materials. Hieronymous considered that alloptic energy was a component of the subtle energy of sunlight, which has properties that favor plant growth; that is, photosynthesis works because of this solar component and not because of all the sunlight.
He applied his discoveries in the treatment of some human diseases, using photographs, providing the opportunity to treat patients at a distance.
GEORGE DE LA WARR
George De La Warr and his wife Marjorie were pioneers of Radionics in England, they made their way through the undergrowth of toxic treatments of conventional chemical medicine.
The De La Warr couple were commissioned to replicate the instruments developed by Ruth Drown. Fascinated by the virtues of the devices, they continued to perfect them and design new radionic systems, which allowed them to research and implement colour therapy in the treatment of diseases, among other discoveries.
MALCON RAE
Malcon Rae created the device known as the Rae Power Simulator.
The Rae Power Simulator broke with the linear thinking of the physicians of the time, that remedies can be produced by printing magnetic or electronic patterns on carrier substances (remedies similar to homeopathic medicines).
BRUCE COPEN, Ph D, D. Litt.
Bruce Copen, Ph D., D. Litt., without a doubt, one of the greatest researchers and disseminators of the science and art of Radionics, builder and innovator of calibrated radionic apparatuses; he contributed pedagogically to the foundation of scientific concepts and their relations with other biological disciplines; his testimony was disseminated in numerous written works.
DAVID V. TANSLEY DC
David V. Tansley Dc, brought Radionics to the top of the concept about the existence of the Subtle Anatomy of Man, where the radiations emitted by these instruments act on the formative etheric forces and on the chakras. This etheric body acts as a receiver, assimilator and transmitter of energies. He developed some radionic apparatuses to treat diseases.
FRANZ MOREL
Franz Morel rediscovers that cells have "radioactive" vibratory capacity in resonance with electromagnetic waves coming from space and the surrounding world. He creates a calibrated device (MORA), which captures the electromagnetic emissions of the sick person, of the plants and, by processes of inverted bioresonance, the pathological waves are introduced to the patient, to the animals, to the plants, making the poisonous concretions and toxins "explode", that have been deposited, during life, in the mesenchymal tissue or extracellular and intracellular spaces. Moreover, this therapy resolves the harmful radiations that are recorded in the water of the cells and that cause daily inflammations in the whole organism.
Emanations developed by a new photographic process
By Raymonde Guidot
In 1958, Mr. Philip Chancelor, from Cuernavaca, Mexico, visited the DeLaWarr laboratories in Oxford to learn more about the work they were doing and especially about the special type of camera used.
Chancelor explained that during his visit he had been most impressed by the photographs taken with the Mark I camera and that later, following DeLaWar's suggestions, he tried to reproduce the process using film instead of photographic plates. This was important if the camera was to be universally used, as it was virtually impossible to obtain the photographic plates in Mexico.
By using various emulsions and developer combinations, Mr. Chancellor was able to find an appropriate combination that allowed him to produce significant energy patterns on the photographic film. At first he found it difficult to stabilize his results and obtain consistent images but, by persisting in experimentation for a few months, he finally found the process as it is applied today.
While DeLaWarr's method used ordinary Ilford plates as well as the standard developer and fixer, Chancellor's method used the Kodak ortho film contrast process and the D8 developer at full power in combination with the Kodak Quick Fix. Using this combination, patterns of the type seen in Figures 12 and 13 were produced. Experiments showed that the strength of these patterns was substantially increased by eliminating the stop bath and placing the film directly into the developer's fixative bath. The optimal development time was 1 to ½ minutes and the fixation time 2 minutes or more. After fixing the film, it was bathed and dried in the usual way. It also became apparent that the developer's temperature was not critical and that shaking the film in the developer was unnecessary.
It became increasingly evident that the patterns seemed to be abstractions and subsequently it became routine to decide on what the shots should be and record them in a notebook before exposure. This action was to fix the request in the subconscious mind so that the abstraction could be classified accordingly. The conscious effort of the operator during the time of exposure did not seem to be as important as the predetermined desire. Whether the resulting pattern is influenced by the mental or emotional state of the operator could not be elucidated until now.
Chancellor techniques. The bathing process
Mr. Chancellor is developing two techniques: the bathing process and the photographic process. The first consists of inserting a 6 cm2 Kodak ortho-film contrast process piece into a D8 developer tray located immediately in front of the operator, having previously decided on which mental request to make. After 1 to 1½ minutes, the developer film is removed and immediately placed in the fixative bath. The patterns then appear and can be observed using the darkroom light.
The interesting feature of the process is that the photographs are taken without the use of a camera and without exposure to light. It was found that there is no obvious effect on the photographs, whether there is a development in total darkness or with the help of the darkroom light, as is normally used. The process has been studied by qualified observers, including Dr. Felix Saunders, formerly a professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago and currently involved in the study of photographic emulsions. In an effort to define the process, it has not been possible to exclude or establish the possibility of artifact. However, it has been agreed that the extreme variation in shape and pattern density obtained by a plurality of people at the same time and under the same conditions would indicate that the patterns tend to suggest a hitherto unknown emanation of energy.
The nature of the image and the energy that causes it has naturally been the subject of much attention and interest. Attempts to perceptibly influence the pattern by various means other than chemicals or light - such as by spreading ammonia around the film or by introducing an electromagnetic field - have not been met with success so far. However, when the film is exposed in the DeLaWarr camera, a change in the image becomes evident.
The Photographic Process
I do not attempt to offer an explanation of these photographs, other than to say that the superimposed patterns appear in the process of fixation. In my opinion, the patterns and depth of image present variations that are open to interpretation. A means of producing repeatable patterns is being sought, and experiments are being conducted to combine Chancellor's process with that of the DeLaWarr camera. The initial photographs taken before I left Oxford were very promising. Several people were able to obtain an image on the Mark I camera, which up to that date had been unable to do so when using ordinary Ilford plates.
Available at the exhibition are copies of a photo-book, published in 1968 by Orion Publishing, under the title Photography of the Mind.