Radionics: The Electromagnetic Therapy Explained

One of the first pioneers of radionics was Albert Abrams who discovered a possible application of electromagnetism to medicine in the 1900s. Abrams was actually a doctor, having received education in Heidelberg and was even a recognized professor of pathology. He figured out that certain ailments and diseases can affect the vibratory nature of certain tissues.

So by thus reversing this idea, he theorized that by bombarding tissues with certain frequencies, he can effectively cure disease and invented the Ocilloclast. Sales of this device picked up quickly and he became a rich man.

The acceptance of his ideas waxed and waned over the years and it was another doctor, Ruth Drowns, who actually coined the term radionics. She developed her own treatment device, The Drown Radio Therapeutic Instrument.

Electromagnetic waves are a type of energy that flows through everything, carried by particles called photons. It can take many different forms depending on the wavelength.

The most well known form of electromagnetic energy is light. Radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, and gamma waves also all fall on the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Therefore, the umbrella term “electromagnetic therapy” can take a wide variety of forms. Every form of this radiation has different amounts of energy with radio waves being the weakest and gamma rays the strongest.

The general idea behind radionics is that there are electrical energy fields within the body and if these fields reach a state of imbalance, it can cause a variety of disorders. So, by using various devices, therapists can therefore cure the ailments that are rooted in these imbalances. It is claimed that it can be used to analyze problems with crops and soil, and it is also effective with animals – both pets and farm animals.

Among the diseases that may be treated by this method are diabetes, asthma, heart disease, headache, pain issues, and even cancer. It has been argued by some that electromagnetic radiation may actually be a form of vital energy, qi / chi or prana (depending on the specific philosophy) that flows through all living things. Some believe that this type of healing can even be done at a distance.

The actual distance between the practitioner and the patient is irrelevant in radionics because it is believed that the biological sample of the client – namely the hair – serves as an energetic conduit for the treatment. Based on the holographic principle – which states that every component of a whole carries all the information contained in the whole – hair is believed to carry the energy essence of the individual.

The practitioner, looking for distortions or imbalances in the patient’s energy patterns, uses a pendulum and radionic devices to measure various energies and frequencies released by the sample.

Sending specific energy patterns back to the patient is part of the treatment, which aims to activate the body’s own healing mechanisms. The idea behind this transmission is similar to that of a broadcast signal: the patient “receives” the healing energy patterns in the same way that a television receives a signal and displays a picture.

1. Rife Machine

One is the Rife machine, invented by Royal Raymond Rife. He believed that cancer was caused by microbes and these microbes vibrated at a certain frequency and gave off a specific aura that could be measured using one of his devices. His apparatus was then allegedly able to use these frequencies as a weapon against the microbes, thus curing the cancer.

He claimed that the process was similar to how certain sound frequencies can break glass. By the time of his death, many of his claims were discredited, but his beliefs saw resurgence after the publication of the book The Cancer Cure That Worked by Barry Lynes, and a new generation of Rife Machines began to be manufactured.

Another type of machine used for this type of healing is a galvanic device. It uses a charged electrode which is placed on different acupoints. These are theoretical places where the meridians, the pathways in the body through which vital energy flows, meet. Because these points have charges, this thus completes a circuit. Using this machine, practitioners claim they can diagnose or heal disease.

Another related form of treatment using electromagnetic waves is light therapy. The idea is that different colored lights can have different effects on the body and possibly heal various ailments. Despite also dealing with electromagnetic waves, this lies beyond the scope of radionics and will not be covered in this article.

Many of the machines used for radionics therapy have had less than stellar levels of acceptance in the scientific community.

In a rigorous exploration of Albert Abrahms’s claims in 1923-24, the magazine Scientific American found that his radionics devices do not hold up to scientific scrutiny and he’s been denounced by many as a quack. His device was no more effective at treating his wife’s cancer as it was the pneumonia that ultimately killed him. His own organization, The Electronic Medical Foundation (EMF) was shut down amid a legal crisis. Disciple Ruth Downs was indicted of fraud, but died prior to her conviction.

Many new agers and healers claim that electromagnetic waves and biophotons are in fact proof that our body has an energy system and these may be the vital energy that features in different healing traditions. However, mainstream science has rejected this claim.

As a placebo, there may be some possible benefit to using these radionics machines. Given how many electrical devices are used in hospitals today, there is a possibility that the very use of a device may give it a stronger perceived legitimacy. It has been theorized that having a complicated back story, or convoluted science and philosophy behind something may create a deeper meaning response, thus strengthening the placebo. Still, this has done little to increase many of these devices’ performance in clinical trials.

Ultimately, it is a good idea to approach these unapproved medical devices with trepidation. Unlike typical energy healing, some of these machines do come with an increased risk of bodily harm due to malfunction, shorts, faulty wiring, or just from it being potentially dangerous to pump electromagnetic radiation through one’s body.

It is highly recommended not to use devices for medical treatment that have not been approved by the FDA. At the very least, one could easily be misled by the false legitimacy of these machines to forgo proper medical treatment for serious illness and the purchase of these unproven devices can be quite expensive.

Updated: July 23, 2024. – This article was originally published on February 1, 2021.