Psychometry
Psychometry is the alleged psychic capacity to obtain information about a person, place or event by holding a physical object related to them. The psychometric "reads" the energetic vibrations stored in the object — clothes, jewellery, photographs, personal possessions of the person to be investigated. Practised mainly in mediumship and parapsychological investigation.
Origin of the term
The word "psychometry" was coined in 1842 by Joseph Rodes Buchanan, American physician interested in alternative phenomena. He postulated that all objects retain "psychic vibrations" of the people who have used them, places where they have been, events they have witnessed — and that certain sensitive people can read these stored vibrations. The German physician Carl von Reichenbach, contemporary, developed similar concepts about "od" (subtle vital energy that impregnates matter).
In the early 20th century, the great American psychic Edgar Cayce demonstrated remarkable psychometric capacities: holding personal objects of consultants (often only their full names and birth dates, but also sometimes physical objects), he gave detailed information about their health and previous lives. The 20th century parapsychology investigated psychometry under the name "token-object reading", with results suggestive but always controversial.
How it is supposed to work
According to its proponents: everything is energy. Each person, by handling an object intensely (clothing they wear daily, jewellery worn for years, photo printed and physically handled), impregnates it with their personal energetic vibration. The psychometric, by holding the object in relaxed hands, allows themselves to tune with that vibration — and from there receive information through their psychic capacity (clairvoyance, clairsentience, claireloquence, etc.).
Psychometric work is used in: 1) Mediumship sessions to obtain information from a deceased through their belongings. 2) Police investigations (psychometric "consultants" who try to provide leads on missing persons or unsolved crimes — extremely controversial, with many famous cases of failure but some claimed successes). 3) Personal readings (to know where a missing object is, to read the personality of a third party from their photo). 4) Tarot work (some readers ask the consultant to bring an object that is held during the consultation to deepen the reading).
Considerations
Critical considerations: 1) Independent scientific evidence is scarce and not conclusive — psychometric studies under controlled conditions usually do not show effects beyond chance + observable bias. 2) Cold reading (technique of obtaining information from observable cues + general phrases that the consultant validates) explains many apparent psychometric "hits". 3) But there are personal experiences of high quality that suggest something real — sensitive individuals report receiving genuine impressions of objects, especially of strong emotional charge.
Personal exploration: if you wish to explore: 1) hold quietly an object of someone you do not know (loaned by a friend); 2) note any impression that arises (image, sensation, word, emotion); 3) contrast afterwards with reality. With practice and discernment, capacities of authentic psychometry can mature — though always intermingled with own projection, that is how the human mind works. Treat with healthy critical curiosity: there is much to learn, but also much to suspect.
Also known as
- Token-object reading
- Psychic reading of objects
- Object reading