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    THE OTHER YOU: How To Develop Your Psychic Potential
    Author: Andrew Laurance
    (C) 1986 Javelin Books/US Sterling Publishing Co., Inc






    AURAS:

    Subtile emanation from anything; atmosphere  diffused by or attending a
    person etc. especially  in mystical use as a  definite envelope of body
    and spirit.

                           OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

    The idea of an aura, a luminosity  radiating from our bodies, is as old
    as history itself, and that all living matter is surrounded by an enrgy
    cloud,  which  can  be  seen  by  sensitives  as  a  colorful emanation
    following the contours of the body to a width of between one centimetre
    and a  metre, is one  of the phenomena  described by psychics  which is
    accepted by scientists as being worthy of examination.

    Since  time  immemorial  holy  personages  have  been  represnted  by a
    surrounding light, and long before  the Christians circled the heads of
    their saints  with halos, the  early Egyptians, the  Greeks, Romans and
    Indians  had fringes  of radiancy   shinning from  the bodies  of their
    dieties and the aura of Buddha was believed to envelope a whole city.

    Not  until the  middle of  the 19th  Century were  auras questioned  by
    science. In the 1850's (*interesting date,  is it not?*; LM) the German
    chemist  Baron  Karl  von   Pheichenbach  (1788-1869),  who  discovered
    creosote and  paraffin, became interesed in  the paranormal and started
    experimenting with  various psychic friends,  coming to the  conclusion
    that people radiated a force  that particularly sensitive persons couls
    see and feel in the DARK. He  called this force od, from which came the
    term "odic force", a form of body magnetism which many at the time were
    pleased to believe explained away the root of spiritualists' ectoplasm,
    their power to move furniture, speak  in a multitude of voices and make
    a good deal of frightening noises.

    Though  a Yugoslav  scientist, Nikola  Telsa became  interested in  the
    subject some  thirty years later and  invented a wire coil  device that
    caused the body to spark, it was  not till 1911 that someone decided to
    research the possibility that this  divine mythical light could in fact
    be explained as an electric currnt produced by the human body.

    A British  doctor,   Walter  Kilner  (1847-1920),   in  charg  of   the
    electro-therapy  department   of  St.  Thosmas's   Hospital  in  London
    discovered that by looking through  coloured glass screens he could see
    a definite band of  light, six inches wide emanating  from the body. He
    further  discovered that  the band  of light  changed shape  and colour
    depending  on  the  health  of  the  subject  and  realized its immense
    potential for diagnostic purposes.

    Inventing  a  glass  screen  which  hermetically  sealed  solutions  of
    dycyanin dyes,  he was able to  precieve a misty light  around the head
    and shoulders and hands of his human  guinea pigs when he stood them up
    against a black back drop.

    In his book, "The Aura", he describes the luminosity appearing in three
    layers, the innermost  of which he refers to as  "the etheric double" ,
    the middle the "inner aura", surrounded by the "outer aura".

    The  whole aura,  he found,   was sensitive  to magnetism  and electric
    current, which,  when applied, vanished to  reappear again with greater
    intensity.

    Not everyone was able to see Kilner's aruras, though using his screens,
    and he explained  that he had had to  sepnd a good deal of  time before
    carrying  out his  experiments getting  his eyes  accustomed to looking
    through his screen  by first staring at daylight  through darker glass.
    He  also claimed  that he  was  perhaps  more sensitive  to auras  than
    others, and that his is likely  is explained in this passage from Lyall
    Watson's "Supernature":

    "Our eyes are  sensitive to light that lies  between the wavelengths of
    380 and  760 millimicrons. With very  high intensity artificial sources
    we can  extend this at  either end  of  the spectrum into  the areas of
    infrared  and ultraviolet  light. The  fact that  man's body  sends out
    electromagnetic waves  just too long  for most people  to see has  been
    vividly  demonstrated  by  the  new  "thermographic"  technique,  which
    translates  heat  radiation  into   wonderful  colour  pictures.  Atpms
    generate infrared  rays by their  constant motion, and  the warmer they
    are the more active they  become. In thermographic portraits, cold hair
    and gingernails  show up black  of blue, cool  earlobes are green,  the
    nose is a lukewarm yellow, and the neck and cheeks glow with orange and
    red. The  system is now  being used to  detect tumours, arthritis,  and
    cancer, which show up as isolated hot areas."

    (Note: Shampoo  advertisements on television  demonstrate thermographic
    hair as an easily accessable example.)

    "So  the body  does radiate  on a  wavelength just  outside our  normal
    vision,  and this  radiation changes   according to  the health  of the
    transmitter.

    Perhaps Kilmer was right. THe range of human sensitivity is quite wide:
    some people hear sounds that to  others are supersonic, and some people
    see wavelengths  that to others  are invisible. Those  who claim to  be
    able to see  an aura surrounding living things  could be supersensitive
    at the  infrared end of the  spectrum. Wave this length  are beyond the
    capability  of the  cone-shaped cells  of the  retina, which appreciate
    visible colours,  but they may  be within the  range of the  rod-shaped
    cells that are more sensitive to low light intensities."

    Kilner's theories  and discoveries had  to wait until  1939 before they
    gained  credibility  amoung  the  scientific  factions.  In  Krasnador,
    southern  Russia,  near  the  Black  Sea,  lived  an electician, Semyon
    Kirlian. He was an extremely competent  man and his services were often
    called upon by researchers working at  the local hospital to repair the
    varioius pieces of equipment when they malfunctioned.

    One  day,  while  in  a   laboratory,  Kirlian  was  present  during  a
    demonstration of a new high frequency electrotherapy unit.

    As  the  patient  received  the  treatment  through electrodes, Kirlian
    noticed minute flashes of light  sparking between the person's skin and
    the electrodes themselves.

    An  amateur  photographer,  fascinated  by  the  infinite possibilities
    offered  by  a  photographic  plate,  he  wondered  whether it would be
    possible to record these minute skin flashes.

    He realized that since the electodes were made of glass for safety, the
    photographic plate would be ruined by exposure to light before the unit
    could even be switched on, so he decided to use metal electodes; though
    this was clearly dangerous.

    Placing  his  own  hand  in  the  right  position  after  adjusting the
    photographic  plate,  he  switched  on  the  power,  was  instantly and
    painfully burnt, but hoped that after  the three seconds he had exposed
    the plates, he might have an original photograph.

    When the plate was developed he  saw a very strange imprint. Around the
    contours of his fingers a luminosity had been recorded.

    He set to work developing a machine that would photograph this apparent
    aura.  The known  techniques of  photography without  light -X-Ray  and
    infrared -  he knew would  be of no  use, so he  devised a process that
    would only catch this new luminous energy emanating from the body.

    Helped by his wife, Valentina,  a journalist and teacher, he eventually
    found  a  method  of  taking  the  pictures  he  wanted  and  his first
    successful result  was the photograph  of a leaf  revealing, around its
    edges, millions  of light energy  dots flaring in  turquoise and orange
    patterns from the direction of the lef's veins.

    When  he similarly  photographed his   own finger,  it appeared  on the
    picture like  an erupting volcano,  flames of energy  sparking from the
    tips.

    As these  were static pictures,  the husband and  wife team went  on to
    perfect  an optical  instrument that   would enable  them to  see their
    discovery in motion and, according to the Ostrander and Schoeder report
    in "Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain":

    "The  hanbd itself  looked like  Milky Way  is a  starry sky. Against a
    background of blue or gold, something was taking place in the hand that
    looked  like  a  firework  display.  Multicoloured  flares lit up, then
    sparks,  twinkles,  flashes.  Some  lights  glowed  steadily like Roman
    candles,  others  flashed  out  then  dimmed.  Still  others sparked at
    intervals. In  parts of his hand  there were little dim  clouds. Cerain
    glittering glares meandering along sparkling labyrinths like spaceships
    travelling to other galaxies.

    "When the Kirlians  places a fresh leaf under the  lens of a microscope
    connected to the  high frequency generator, they saw  a picture similar
    to that  of the human  hand. Next they  tried a half  withered lead. It
    looked like  a great metropolis turning  out its lights for  the night.
    They  tried an  almost completely  withered lead.  There were almost no
    flares  and sparks  and "clouds"  scarcely moved.  As they watched, the
    lead seemed to  be dying before their eyes and  its death was reflected
    in the picture  of energy impulses. "We appeared to  be seeing the very
    life activities  of the leaf  itself," Kirlian said,  "intense, dynamic
    energy in the  healthy lead, less in the withered  lead, nothing in the
    dead lead."

    This Kirlian discovery soon made  scientific news and, with the backing
    of  the Soviet  Academy of  Sciences, they  elaborated further on their
    machines and carried out endless experiments.

    What  they proves  was what  mediums had  been saying  for years,  that
    living  matter  has  an  aura,  and  that  that  aura  is  affected  by
    frequencies of energy  governed by the state of  health of the subject.
    Fatigue, poor states of mind, anxieties and illnesses all contribute to
    the behaviour of the aura.

    When the Kirlians  examined two leaves side by  side taken from similar
    plants  and saw  a sharp  contrast, they  were puzzled.  But a visiting
    scientist who had given them the leaves was quite ecstatic.

    "Both leaves were torn from the same species of plant, but one of these
    plants  had already  been contaminated  with a  serious plant  disease.
    You've found this  out immediately! There is absolutely  nothing on the
    plant or this lead to indicate that  it has been infected and will soon
    die. No tests on the actual plant  or the leaf show anything wrong with
    it.  With high  frequency photography  you've diagnosed  illness in the
    plant AHEAD OF TIME!"

    In  the  Ostrander  and  Schroeder  book  a  series  of photographs are
    reproduced.   These  show,   among   other   things,  the   changes  in
    lumninescence of a figertip when the subject was calm and even tempered
    compared to the fingertip when the  subject was in a state of gatrigue.
    The aura, when the person is  calm, resembles a glowing coal fire, when
    gatigued, like the exhaust of flaring rockets.

    Psychics  who can  see auras  all seem  to agree  that the luminescence
    around  the  human  body  is  egg-shaped,  wide  around  the  head  and
    shoulders, tapering towards the feet.

    In  the  famous  book,  "The  Teachings  of  Don  Juan:  A Yaqui Way of
    Knowledge" by  Carlos Castaneda, who  wrote it when  he was a  graduate
    student  at  the  University  of  Califronia,  this  egg-shapes aura is
    briefly but interestingly mentioned.

    In 1960, Carlos Castaneda first met Don Juan, a Yaqui Indian feared and
    shunned by the ordinary folk of  the Maerican South West because of his
    unnatural  powers.  During  the  next  five  years  Don  Juan's  arcane
    knowledge led him into a world  of beauty and terror, rules by concepts
    far beyond  those of Western  civilization. Using psychedelic  drugs --
    peyote,  jimson weed  and mushroom  humito --  Castenada lived  through
    encounters with diembodied spirits, shamans in the form of huge wolves,
    and death in  the shape of silver crows. Three  times he met Mescalito,
    the  god  of  peyote;  finally,  after  a  night  of terror in which he
    realized his life was threatened by  forces which he still cannot fully
    explain, he  gave up the  struggle to become  a Man of  Knowledge -- to
    find the other  you -- but wrote his remarkable  book in which Don Juan
    tells him:

    "I like to sit in parks and bus depots and watch. Real people look like
    luminous eggs when you "see" them.  In a crowd of egglike creatures you
    can spot the one who looks just like a person, then you know that there
    is something wrong and that, without  this luminous glow, this is not a
    real person at all."

    Having  accepted that  all living  matter is  surrounded by  a field of
    force which can sometimes be seen  or photographed as an aura, there is
    also the aura  which is perceived by psychics  that DIFFERS slightly in
    that is is coloured by the thought processes of the subject.

    This  colouring ranges  from fine  violet, blue  hues to  yellows, dark
    browns,  greys and  dull reds.  Sometimes the  auras shine  with a pure
    golden light, which, if some of the interpetations put on colour can be
    proved to be correct, signifies spirituality.

    Pale blues  and purples are interpeted  as the given power  of healing.
    Pink for pure  love and effection. Red for desire  and anger. Green for
    intellect. Browns and  muddy shades going to greys  signify disease. An
    aura which appears to be shrivelling sggests approaching death.

    THese colours, however, are not  always reliable symbols and should not
    be applied as hard and fast rules. What matters most in the aura is its
    clarity and purity of colours which indicates stability, or instability
    in the subject's character. Blues  merging into reds merging into greys
    like a dirty  artist's palate is supsect. A clear  yellow outlined by a
    pure green is obviously more sound.

    The acquisition of auric sight, like all otehr parnaormal faculties, is
    a question of practice and patience. Compared to other forms of psychic
    powers it is, however, relatively simpe  to try out, providing you give
    yourself time and do not limit yourself to only one or two experiments.

    Auric sight  is one of  the faculties which  may indicate that  you can
    develop OTHER  powers in the  psychic field, but  apart from this,  and
    possibly  confirming  that  a  person  is  physically or mentaly unwell
    because  of the  poor state  of  their  aura, auric  sight can  only be
    regarded as a fascinating additional and supernatural dimension.