Orbs and Spiritual Experiences: In an orbital shape of mind

Abstract

The orb phenomenon is commonly dismissed and neglected by academia on the one hand, while on the other, is well-known in popular paranormal media, where it has been explored by ghost-hunters, mediums and paranormal researchers. Since the mid-1990s, the mass usage of digital imaging has been the impetus that has confronted snapshot photographers with the phenomenon of orbs; this, coupled with the broad spectrum of interpretations of orbs, has polarised the mundane explicable and the paranormal elusive perspectives. One emerging group of interpretations that has been overlooked are accounts of spiritual experiences with orbs, prompting a forthcoming study on the research of these particular anomalous light experiences. Comparisons with other anomalous lights are found in folkloristic narratives, in miraculous religious photography, in paranormal popular ghost and haunting narratives, and in the discussion on the reliability of digital photography, which finds itself in a tradition of ambiguous environments: physical, paranormal and spiritual. This last is where orbs perhaps signify an aspect of how, in Evelyn Underhill’s words, ‘we are in constant correspondence with our spiritual environment’.