Cymatics, from Greek meaning wave, is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena.

The term was coined by Hans Jenny, a Swiss follower of the philosophical school known as Anthroposophy.

Anthroposophy postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual World, accessible to Human experience through inner development.

Anthroposophy aims to develop faculties of perceptive imagination, inspiration and intuition through the cultivation of a form of thinking independent of sensory experience.

Anthroposophy aims to attain in its study of spiritual experience the precision and clarity attained by the natural sciences in their investigations of the physical World.

Contemporary German photographer and philosopher Alexander Lauterwasser has brought Cymatics into the 21st century using finely crafted crystal oscillators to resonate steel plates covered with fine sand and to vibrate small samples of water.

His book ‘Water Sound Images’ features imagery of light reflecting off the surface of water set into motion by sound sources.

His book focused on creating detailed visual analogues of natural patterns ranging from the distribution of spots on a leopard to the geometric patterns found in plants and flowers, to the shapes of jellyfish and the intricate patterns found on the shell of a tortoise.