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aura
December 2008 
The Human Aura: What Is It?
Posted on Mar 18th, 2006
by 
Jeff Mishlove
Jeff Mishlove
Here is a drawing of my "aura" as seen, in 1975, by psychic Rick Stevens -- co-founder of what is now known as the Heartsong Center for Expanded Perception (run by Rick's ex, Petey Stevens). This picture, incidentally, was originally published in the first (1975) edition of my book, The Roots of Consciousness.
Now, in order to address the question of what this aura actually is, I am going to show another image, below, taken from a Theosophical book dating back to 1894:
You can see that these two images of the aura are very different from each other. And, that is a very important clue. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, all tests of the aura have shown that different "aura readers" see the aura differently. In other words, the perception of the aura has at least as much (if not more) to do with the perceiver as with the person whose ostensible aura is being perceived.
Of course, there are certain electromagnetic and electrostatic fields surrounding the human body. These can be objectively measured by various instruments. But, as far as I can tell, these fields have virtually nothing to do with the aura that is perceived by psychics.
When psychics report on the aura, they provide information concerning a person's character, their spirit guides, their past-lives and, perhaps, even their future. None of this information -- to the extent that it is accurate -- can be found in objective measurements of electromagnetic and electrostatic fields. Then, where does it come from?
My answer can be summed up in one word: synesthesia.
In other words, an "aura reader" is receiving information about the individual being read from multiple sensory inputs as well as from their intuition. All of this information that is processed by the "biocomputer" of the "aura reader." The biocomputer then provides a visual display, within the inner sensorium of the "aura reader."
The programming for that particular display is unique for each aura reader -- and this is what has come to be known as the "aura."
As for the various machines, often on display at "psychic faires" that purport to provide a full-color printout of the human aura -- there is little that can be said. To my knowledge, none of them have been independently validated in a manner that would satisfy the community of open-minded scientists investigating such questions.
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great post! i couldn't agree more. and great tie up with synesthesia. i think the same thing happpens to people who take psychedelics. it triggers synesthesia. they see colors and other cool stuff but they don't see the same thing. it's all relative to the experiencer. in integralese speak, the interpretation depends on the level of the consciousness of the experiencer. when it comes to state experiences and stages of consciousness i think the Wilber-Combs lattice explains it best.
that's the reason why i don't take psychic readings too seriously. and believe me, they're a dime a dozen in the Philippines–some of them are really freakin' good! but when two or three or more psychics say the same thing, i pause and pay attention, before brushing it off :)
This is starting to become Pure Fun, Again thank you for this brilliant post!
Leendert
Very cool, Jeff! I was having a discussion with my girlfriend about auras just last month, and she had come to the same conclusion! It seemed pretty insightful to me, and I”ve been holding on to it. Awesome to have some 'confirmation' on the idea from more of an 'expert' in the field.
Thanks for sharing this information on auras, Jeff! I write about this topic of synesthesia in my book, “Aura Advantage” and I’ve posted the synesthesia excerpt from chapter one of my book in my Zaadz blog titled,
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Auras & Synesthesia
Something else worthy of mention here is the fact that auras have long been utilized for medical diagnostic purposes. One of the first articles published on this subject was published by Dr. Walter Kilner in Scientific American in March 1922. Current research in the United States and the Soviet Union is underway to better utilize aura readings (in the form of Kirlian photographs) for medical diagnosis. This is an area you can expect to hear a great deal more about as the science of thermography really heats up (pardon the pun)… and we see more results from things such as SQUID technology.
I enjoyed seeing what the physicists at UC Berkeley are doing when I toured John Clarke’s famous superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID) laboratories at the first-ever UC Berkeley alumni reunion in October 2003. Clarke had been one of my favorite instructors while I studied physics at UC Berkeley, with his charming British accent and his delightful way of illustrating even the most complicated ideas with real-world applications and examples. I was thrilled to get a chance to tour two of Clarke’s laboratories that are utilizing SQUIDs, and hear about the cutting-edge research that he and his team of graduate students are conducting with quantum bits and ultralow frequency magnetic imaging. SQUIDs may be the most sensitive measurement device known to man; composed of a superconducting loop with two Josephson junctions, SQUIDs are used to measure extremely small magnetic flux and magnetic fields. Clarke has used SQUIDs in many applications over the years, including detection of NMR signals at ultralow frequencies; geophysics; nondestructive evaluation of materials; biosensors; detection of dark matter; and observing “qubits” for a potential quantum computer.
Thanks for responding, Cynthia. I'd be interesting in knowing of any relevant, new research on the aura of which you are aware – thermography, Kirlian photography, Squid research, etc.
I’ll be posting new research articles as they are published in my monthly ezine, RealityShifters News. Most of these new studies are very much still “in the works,” which means that I’m hearing of some preliminary findings, but have not yet seen much in the way of published articles. As you know, we must sometimes be very patient awaiting the official reports!
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hspace=”5” alt=” Subscribe to RealityShifters News”>
The first picture looks more like what auras look like to me - complex, sometimes quickly moving regions of 'energy' responding constantly to stimulus.
I never really saw the theosophy style aura - sometimes what I can see takes on qualities like that, but the theosophy auras always seem so static in their depictions.
On one occasion, back in the early 1970s, when I was with Lewis Bostwick (founder of the Berkeley Psychic Institute), I actually had a glimpse of what I took to be his aura. (I think my vision was augmented at the time through the use of visionary vegetables.) What I saw looked like various insignia – of the sort one might see on a military or masonic uniform. I remarked about this. And, Bostwick made some sort of joke, that simultaneously seemed to be acknowledging what I had seen while dismissing its ultimate significance. (I believe he said, “Oh, that shit…”)
I wonder if any of you aura readers have seen anything similar???
I've 'seen' lots of things that I recall as being similar to what you are describing. But my ability to 'see' is a bit idiosyncratic, due I think to my self-taught method. What I 'see' is fast, motile, and complex - and that complexity can easily take on complicated shapes that seem at least somewhat symbolic, similar to what you seem to describe.
But, taking the neurochemicals colors the process and tilts the tendency to see in sometimes unexpected ways - so I would also guess the visual patterns characteristic to whatever neurochem you were using played a part in the shapes/shaping of what you saw.
To add another level of complexity, various exercises and practices, especially that common class of practices I call “circulations of colored lights”, tend to leave the appearance of structures in the 'aura' that can also look fairly unusual. So, if your friend was doing exercises, that could have affected what you felt you 'saw'.
All of this falls under my “simulation” model, which I mentioned somewhere before.