Conference hydra::dejavu

    There is a short discussion of Auras in topic #65. 
    
    I have been in on one short "seminar" on auras. The basic technique
    for seeing auras seems simple enough. Become sensitive enough to
    be *proficient* could be "inborn" or require much practice.  
                   
    The technique for the demo I participated in was:
    
    �Subject should be in front of a white background to make the aura
    show up better.
    
    �Person (and subject) should get into relaxed state. (Nervousness/fear
    contracts aura.
    
    �Let eyes "go out of focus" and (debatable) look just slightly off
    to one side of subject.
    
    After a bit of time *most* people will see a slight "haze" of light
    and/or color around the subject. This may be very elusive or faint
    depending on the circumstances and people involved, but the results
    are very easily attainded by most people. 
    
    As I was given to understand, the colors change on the subject at
    any given time and viewer will effect the colors being seen by the
    viewer.(sort of like high level physics experiments:-)
    
    Its great to practice at boring meetings when the speaker is in
    front of a white board or screen.  I discovered I had been "playing"
    with auras as a kid to kill the boredom of church services.
    
    Thom
    

    
    Thanks!  I always thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Going
    to take this more seriously from now on.  Nothing spectacular, but
    I have seen a pencil-thin line now and then around people in the
    conditions you described.
    
    Cindy

.1 Thom

>                                      I discovered I had been "playing"
>   with auras as a kid to kill the boredom of church services.

I said this to my wife just last week. I wondered if anyone else did this
too.

We were at a meditation class, and the women leading the class was
talking to someone new in the group, and mentioned auras. She said that
auras have been proven to exsist by infra-red photographs. While I
believe auras exsist, and I told my wife about being a kid in church
seeing the priest's aura, I've wondered about photographing it. Does an
infra-red photo of a person show their aura, or is it just recording body
heat radiating from that person?

Jay

    
    I was watching a program on Nature and the way people see the world
    is not like the way insects see the world.  Though a flower would
    appear to be much the same color throughout (yellow daffodils, for
    example), the insects actually see the center of the flower as being
    a different 'color' than the outside of the flower and the contrast
    was quite significant.
    
    On high frequency sounds - I've walked into buildings with (sonic?)
    alarm systems (banks and dept. stores mostly) and immediately have
    to turn around and walk out because I can't tolerate the sound for
    any length of time at all.  If I stay for over 15 seconds, the pain
    becomes unbearable.  Other people I've been with can't hear anything 
    and think I'm very strange when this happens.
                                
    Maybe it is the same with auras - that some people just happen to
    be more sensitive (built differently) than others.
    
    Cindy
                                                      

    .1 <There is a short discussion of Auras in topic #65>
    
    thanks.  I scanned that one, alot of interesting info.
    
    What I was looking for, was some independent feedback on
    the colors in the aura.  For example, Edgar Cayce mentions
    that different colors mean different things.  I read the
    rainbow and chakra definitions, but I have been able to
    detail more from the readings than general activities.
    
    For example, if a person's aura has green in it, that
    usually indicates illness or injury.  Depending on the
    location of the green (for example, around the hips)
    and the intensity (fairly bright, and "on top" of the
    other colors in the aura)--this could signify someone
    with arthritis in their hips.
    
    Yellow and orange are usually related to energy levels
    for the person.  Indigo is the psychic/mental energy,
    pink indicates love, red indicates anger...and so on.
    
    To those of you who have "seen" auras, have you seen
    this type of correlation with the colors and the
    person's state of being??
    
    --E
    

    Yes, I've never read that particular book but I have seen those
    colors in correlation with those emotions.  My SO and I have
    been trying to associate certain colors with certain moods or
    emotional states.  We have noticed the same connections between
    certain colors and certain states of mind or emotional conditions
    that he is in.

    I can see them and I always could.  In fact I was nearly 10 years
    old before I figured out that not everybody could see them.  As a
    kid, I could tell if one of my parents was angry or upset or not
    feeling well.  I used it to figure out the best time to ask for
    special favors or break bad news etc.  In school, I could tell if
    a teacher liked me by their aura when s/he looked at me.  I could
    also tell which kids s/he didn't like in the same way.  I can remember
    in Sunday school I nearly got into trouble.  The teacher was saying
    that a artists often drew saints with a halo to signify a sort of
    glow that some people could see around their heads.  I was very
    puzzled and came very close to remarking that I didn't understand
    why they didn't draw the "glow" around the rest of the body as well.
    
    Marion

    I once saw a dead person.  He was a 12 year old drowning victum.
    When I saw him (I was a life guard at the time) he had no aura at
    all except for the very top of his head.  The color was a very deep
    red and it was quite intense, though it did not shine very far
    off of his head.  That's unusual, since I have observed that if
    a person's aura has an intense color - it's usually a big aura.
                                                           
    Marion

RE: .4 (Jay)

I.R. photography records heat (infrared being on the border between light and
heat).  I am not surprised that the woman would interpret such pictures as
proof that auras exist; many people who want to believe in auras will interpret
any natural corona (such as electrical discharge paths in Kirlian photography)
as an "aura."  I have never known anyone will-versed in science who believed in
auras. 

The question is what, exactly, is an aura and why would eyes detect them?
Eyes focus light...light in the visible spectrum at that.  Why should eyes
detect auras any more than ears?  And if eyes are not necessary to detect
auras, then blind people should see them too.

I have always been somewhat amused at people who claim that one must view
an object in peripheral vision in order to see auras (I met a channeler
who said that this was the way to see ghosts as well).  Since there is little
visual information in the peripheral regions, the brain must interpret what
it sees in order to compensate (similar to the way the brain "fills in"
the natural blind spot created where the optic nerve joins the retina).
It is therefore very easy to "see" in these areas whatever one wishes to see.


RE: .5 (Cindy)

Et tu?  My hearing (at age 33) is flat through 10 KHz.  I can still hear
frequencies around 20 Khz (the highest limit of human hearing).  Most people's
hearing only goes up to about 15 KHz, so it is not uncommon for engineers to
design ultrasonic devices in the 15-20 Khz range; they can't hear it! But for
people who can, those alarms etc. are *torture.*  Video terminals and
televisions are the worst offenders, I think, since they contain a horizontal
oscillator that works around 15 Khz.  I've always thought that was dumb.  I
keep a pair of earplugs in my office to block out ultrasonic noise pollution. 

Good hearing is a curse, ain't it kid?  At least it's fun to give demos
to people who don't believe I can hear ultrasonic whistles or terminals
(I go into the next room and tell them when they are turning on the terminal
or blowing the whistle.)

John M.  

    Re .11:
    
 > ....many people who want to believe in auras will interpret
>any natural corona (such as electrical discharge paths in Kirlian photography)
>as an "aura." 
    
    I did a note on Kirlian some back (can't remember the number and
    the system's too sluggish for a dir/title=).  Most researchers think
    _something_'s happening (e.g., the "torn leaf" effect), but I haven't
    heard speculation that a Kirlian photo represents "the" aura.
    
>I have always been somewhat amused at people who claim that one must view
>an object in peripheral vision in order to see auras (I met a channeler
>who said that this was the way to see ghosts as well). ...
    
    Perhaps, but the periphery of a retina is rod-dominated where the
    center is cone-dominated.   Most people have far greater light
    sensitivity with rods (thoufh to achieve it, one generally trades
    off resolution).  Astronomers suggest that dark-night viewing of
    faint objects with the naked eye is helped by looking off-center.
    
>people who can, those alarms etc. are *torture.*  Video terminals and
>televisions are the worst offenders, I think, since they contain a horizontal
>oscillator that works around 15 Khz.  ...
    
    Actually, it's 12.5 (something) KHz.  When mI was younger, I used
    to be able to hear it.  And some bat chirps.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.       

    
    	RE: .11
    >          I have never known anyone will-versed in science who
    believed in auras..  <
    
    I suppose you meant "well-versed".     I have met several.   I myself
    have a BSEE with Honors, so I am not entirely unfamiliar with
    science, and I believe in auras, having seen them myself.    
    I have never heard any theory that seemed to completely
    explain the sight, but I am disinclined to disbelieve the evidence
    of my senses.    If you meet a scientist who sees auras, would
    you then assume he could not really be "well-versed"?

        Perhaps some people are able to see up into the UV spectrum?
    Or perhaps there are visible harmonics to vibrations outside the
    visible range ?    Baron VonReichenbach in his book "Letters on
    Ode and Magnetism" discovered that about 5% of the population may
    have this ability.
    	A major factor in seeing auras seems to be in focusing the eyes.
    By focusing in front of, beside or behind a person the aura becomes 
    visible, while it is not so evident when you are looking right at 
    the person.   It's kinda like trying to follow a little dust particle
    with the eyes, if you don't focus in the right spot it just seems
    to disappear.   Our habit is to look at physical objects, and to
    *not* focus the eyes in midair where these dim colors are hanging
    out.

    	Alan.

    re .13:
    
    >    Perhaps some people are able to see up into the UV spectrum?
    
    Yes.  Oddly, some who had corneal operations around the time of
    World War II gained this ability.  Some of these were used along
    the English shores to intercept ultraviolet signals sent across
    the Channel that would be invisible to people with ordinary vision.
    [I wish I could cite the source: think it was either _The Secret
    War_ or _The Rays Are Not Coloured_, but I'm here ant the library's
    at the house.]  Children can see a little long-wave UV, but this
    ability diminishes with age.
    
    However, I've no report of people who could see UV suddenly seeing
    auras.
    
    the question remains open.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr. 

    
    
    I thought that the ability to see auras was a clairvoyant faculty.
    The physical eyes are not necessarily seeing the aura, it's the
    "mind's eye".  
    
    C.
    

RE: .12 (Steve)
    
    > I did a note on Kirlian some back (can't remember the number and the
    system's too sluggish for a dir/title=).  Most researchers think
    _something_'s happening (e.g., the "torn leaf" effect), but I haven't
    heard speculation that a Kirlian photo represents "the" aura. < 

From what I have seen of the "phantom leaf effect," (and I have seen several
pictures) I'll wager it is a myth.  Sure, there is an image there, but it
can only be described as the outline of a leaf by using large amounts of
imagination.  OF COURSE there will be an image; the electrical discharge
follows moisture, and where a leaf has been cut there will be the most
moisture.  There is absolutely nothing paranormal about Kirlian photography.


    > ... the periphery of a retina is rod-dominated where the center is
    cone-dominated.   Most people have far greater light sensitivity with
    rods (thoufh to achieve it, one generally trades off resolution).
    Astronomers suggest that dark-night viewing of faint objects with the
    naked eye is helped by looking off-center. < 

That is also so the image won't fall on the blind spot (which the brain fills
in with black, in this case).  I think you get the point, though.
    

    >> people who can, those alarms etc. are *torture.*  Video terminals
    and televisions are the worst offenders, I think, since they contain a
    horizontal oscillator that works around 15 Khz.  ... << 
    
    > Actually, it's 12.5 (something) KHz.  When mI was younger, I used to
    be able to hear it.  And some bat chirps. < 

And I'm supposed to know this stuff.  Hey, I said it was *around* 15KHz,
didn't I? :-)
    
I had a bat "fly in me face" once.....mammalian, not baseball.  OUCH!



RE: .13 (Alan)

Yes, I did mean well-versed.  As we have not yet met, what I said still
is true.

    > Perhaps some people are able to see up into the UV spectrum? Or
    perhaps there are visible harmonics to vibrations outside the visible
    range ?    Baron VonReichenbach in his book "Letters on Ode and
    Magnetism" discovered that about 5% of the population may have this
    ability. < 

It would tie into what you said about focusing, since UV, because of its
short wavelength, focuses slightly in front of the retina.  If this were
true, though, auras would all be the same color.  They also would not change
with emotion.  They also would be ON the figure, not around it.

Now that I think of it, auras should be 3-D anyway.  So a person with a
green aura should be green all over.

Who is this Baron VonSomebody, anyway?  I'll bet almost anything he lived
around the turn of the century when such notions were RAMPANT (fodder for
another topic).


John M.       

     What about seeing your own aura?  Seems to me a  person  could  run  a
     couple  of experiments on themselves to prove or disprove the presence
     and/or significance of this phenomenon.

     Alvin

    
    	Baron Von Reichenbach, was a scientist in Europe, around 100
    years ago (good guess, john  ;^)  ).    He just happens to be
    the same scientist who invented creosote.   It was an interesting
    book that mostly just describes his experiments and observations
    without a lot of theory.
    
    	I usually only see auras when I'm very fatigued, or stressed
    out.  I suppose this is because the way I focus my eyes changes
    at these times.   The aura appears to vary over different areas
    of the body, and over different distances from the body.   The
    brighter "corona" right next to the body is almost always brighter,
    or whitish, and easier to see than the aura farther from the body.
    
    PS, John:  If what is being seen is the lower "harmonics" of UV
    light, why would this all be one color?   In music, an A-880 Hz might
    set an A-440 Hz string oscillating, and a 1000 hz note might set a
    500 hz string oscillating.   The harmonics would be different colors,
    depending on the varying colors of the UV light, probably with a
    1:2 or 1:3 ratio to the UV frequencies.   
    
    Alan.

RE: .18 (Alan)

Aha!  I *knew* all that had a turn-of-the-century ring about it!  Such sources
are often quoted in parapsych and holistic medicine.  But I digress... (as
I always do!).

The harmonics should result as a function of *nonlinear* mixing, correct?
If light generated such harmonics, then we would see them as a result of
mixing in the visible spectrum as well.  But we don't, cause it don't happen.

Anyway, how would that be effected by emotion?  And (again) the person's
*whole body* would take on whatever color was generated; they would not
have what people describe as an "aura."

Here's an idea: get three people who claim to see auras (unbeknownst to
each other) and have them watch a fourth person and write down what color
his aura is at any given moment.  Then compare results.

How come nobody ever does that?

John M.

re: all

Do only people have auras? Do other living things, like trees, have
auras?

Jay

	yes

    I have learned more about auras by reading this note and its replies
    in the past two days, than I have ever learned in 22 years.  Great
    stuff! Expecially the explanations about the "torn leaf" effect...I
    saw this on "In Search Of" years ago, and it's great to hear more
    precise explanations of it.
    
    My only experiences: I once attended an event with a female speaker,
    and as I watched her speak I saw around her head, a kind of glowing,
    kind of a vibrating gold field of light around and emanating from
    her head.  It looked like some of the paintings of halos I have
    seen...amazed the heck out of me, and it went away and returned
    again in proportion with her level of passion...the woman was from
    South Africa and was discussing heavy stuff like the destiny of
    her people, and was quite empassioned and eloquent...
    
    I was told once by a "psychic" who was reading my aura, that there
    was a lot of white in it, which he said represented protection from
    God.  I read a couple of notes back about the "corona" being
    white...what is the corona, and is it normally white?  If it is
    this would tend to discredit what this guy told me because he was
    quite impressed and told me that mine was a very unusual aura because
    of the amount of white in it.
    
    So...what is the corona, and how does what this guy said correlate with
    the normal color of the corona...or does it?
    
    DW

    I am another who has always seen auras.  I don't normally see them,
    unless it is especially intense or large though.  I look at the
    person straight (or reasonably so), kind of throw my eyes out of
    focus, and it's there.
    
    I can also see my own aura.  Once, something unusual happened to
    me, and I was feeling very disoriented.  I looked at my aura, and
    found it was about 2 inches off center.  When I did some things
    to try to fix the energy flows in it, I felt much better (or, at
    least more normal :^)).
    
    Re (John Mitchel):
    
    An experiment similar to what you describe has been done.  My former
    SO and I were visiting a friend, who said to us "Wearing the colors
    of each other's aura's today, eh?"  I knew he was right, but my
    skeptical SO didn't believe it.  He took the friend inside the house,
    and questioned him about the colors of various aquaintances auras.
    Then, left the friend inside the house, and questioned me about
    the same people.  According to the former SO, we agreed 100%, but
    still disbelieved it because we seemed to be "figuring it out".
    
    
    Elizabeth
    

    re: .13
    
    I agree that the way I tend to view someone's aura, is NOT to
    look directly at them.  If for example, I am trying to determine
    where the area surrounded by green is, (signifying illness or
    disease) I tend to look to the "side" and un-focus my eyes.
    
    --Eve
    

    re: .19 (John)
    
    Great!  I will definitely like to participate in a
    "reading" evaluation/comparison.
    
    A few points, before we actually do this--
    
    I have noticed that individual's auras DO vary from
    day to day.  In fact, if they are extremely tired
    or agitated, that can overpower the usual characteristics
    of their aura.
    
    As far as setting it up, how about getting a few
    individuals (rather than just one person) as the
    monitor group.  Then the people who read auras can
    note what they "see" on paper.
    
    Afterwards, we can compare.
    
    Also, recommend, if possible, that the people whose auras
    are being read, not be known to the "aura readers".
    
    This would be very interesting.
    
    Would we be allowed to psychometrize to supplement the
    aura??
    
    --Eve
    

    re: .23/DW
    
    Absolutely!!  White usually is associated with support/
    guidance from entities outside of this physical plane
    (for what that's worth!)
    
    In a book called "An Autobiography of a Yogi" (I think his
    name was Yogananda), there is a lot of discussion on white
    auras.  In fact, they mention that having a white aura (only
    white, with no other colors) that is extensive--that is,
    extends 10's of feet beyond the body, is an indication of
    godhead.  In other words, Jesus is noted for having an
    unusual glow (something to the effect that his face glowed
    like the sun) that extended far into the crowd when He 
    spoke to them.
    
    White IS an unusual color to have in your aura (based on the
    readings I have given to people, not many people have this
    color in their aura).
    
    --Eve
    

    
    Sounds like the aura reading experiment would be a good activity
    at the DEJAVU Hallowe'en party.
    
    I tend to see a lot of what I believe are auras...I have a built-in
    aura enhancer: nearsightedness ;-) . I have found that my own aura
    remains a fairly constant electric/neon green, swirling and jetting.
    (I use my "mind's I" to picture my own aura.)
    
    Tananda
    

    I disagree on the interpretation of green as always signifying 
    illness or some other discomfort.  I have always loved the color 
    green and to me it signifies life.  I also know a couple of others
    who see auras who believe this way too.  One woman I know who can
    see auras checked mine and my husband's out when she came for a
    horoscope reading.  Her description of mine was violet and indigo
    with a crown of white close to the head that sent rays up into the
    violet and indigo layers.  My husband, who was cooking, cleaning
    and being generally nurturant, she described as having a green and
    yellow layered aura.
    
    When she was at my place another time for a party, and _I_ was doing
    most of the nurturant stuff, she said with interest that even though
    the violet-indigo-white stuff was still there was a bunch of green
    and yellow in my aura that day.
    
    And neither of us was sick, or got sick at the time.  I concluded
    that green and yellow, if situationally understood, could mean that
    one was exercising "care-and-feeding" feelings and behavior.
    
    Marcia

	I'm unable to see colors in an "aura" (I'm assuming that's what
	I see) unless I'm in the "right" state of consciousness.  I 
	seem to see Astrally, but colors and shades aren't visible to
	me unless I'm in the right mental state to view them. 

	Does anyone else see auras this way?

						-- Mike

    Shades...just like anything else in this world (probably
    should include other planes, but that's not for this
    topic!), there are nuances that can be subtle or broadly
    obvious.  
    
    When I "read" someone's aura, the different colors and shades
    of those colors, the brightness/dimness, the placement of the
    color(s)--all of these contribute to the overall "reading".
    
    So when I spoke of green as an indicator of ill-health, that
    is because it is quite unusual (in the people I have read for)
    to see the "healthy, vital" shade of green.  So just like a
    flat note in music or a bitter taste when sweet is expected, a
    shade of green that is not the true vital green, is a sign of
    illness or injury.
    
    RE <.31
    
    "...unless I'm in the right mental state to view them."
    
    I agree with this statement from my own experience.  There are times
    when I realize that I would have been able to discern much more
    about someone IF I had thought to look at their aura.  Sometimes
    it is distracting, almost like trying to listen, write, and speak
    at the same time!!  
    
    Perhaps practicing at staff meetings would help...
    
    --E
    

    For any mystery fans in the crowd, there's a good book called _Liars
    and Tyrants and People Who Turn Blue_  about a woman who can read
    auras and tell whether people are angry, etc. Gets involved in
    ..uhm..some type of international intrigue, I think...and, of course,
    her "talent" plays a part in the proceedings.
    
    Dawn
    

    
    
    	re .5
    
    		I have the same problem with TV's, etc. I can usually
    tolerate it, but when I'm really tired, it drives me nuts. When
    the TV (or terminal) first gets turned on, it feels like my ears
    are stretching straight out (weird sensation...). I can always
    tell if the TV is on even before I walk into the house. Haven't
    tried `dog whistles' yet...