Ectenic force is said to be a form of spiritual energy

Energy (healing or psychic or spiritual)

The term energy has been widely used by writers and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine to refer to a variety of phenomena. Such "energy" is often seen as a continuum that unites body and mind...

 emitted by a medium

Mediumship

Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...

, that allows them to manipulate objects without apparent physical contact. Its existence was initially hypothesized by Count Agenor de Gasparin, to explain the phenomena of table turning

Table-turning

Table Turning or "Table Tipping" is a type of séance in which participants sit around a table, place their hands on it, and wait for rotations...

 and tapping during séance

Séance

A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...

s. Ectenic force was named by de Gasparin's colleague, M. Thury, a professor of Natural History at the Academy of Geneva. Between then, de Gasparin and Thury conducted a number of experiments in Ectenic force, and claimed some success. Their work was not independently verified.