THE HUMAN AURA/PART 1
CHAPTER I.
WHAT IS THE HUMAN AURA?
The above question is
frequently asked the student of occultism by some one who has heard the term
but who is unfamiliar with its meaning. Simple as the question may seem, it is
by no means easy to answer it, plainly and clearly in a few words, unless the
hearer already has a general acquaintance with the subject of occult science.
Let us commence at the beginning, and consider the question from the point of
view of the person who has just heard the term for the first time.
The dictionaries
define the word aura as: "Any subtle, invisible emanation or
exhalation." The English authorities, as a rule, attribute the origin of
the word to a Latin term meaning "air," but the Hindu authorities
insist that it had its origin in the Sanscrit root Ar, meaning the
spoke of a wheel, the significance being perceived when we remember the fact
that the human aura radiates from the body of the individual in a manner
similar to the radiation of the spokes of a wheel from the hub thereof. The
Sanscrit origin of the term is the one preferred by
occultists, although it will be seen that the idea of an aerial emanation,
indicated by the Latin root, is not foreign to the real significance of the
term.
Be the real origin of
the term what it may, the idea of the human aura is one upon which all
occultists are in full agreement and harmony, and the mention of which is found
in all works upon the general subject of occultism. So we shall begin by a
consideration of the main conception thereof, as held by all advanced
occultists, ancient and modern, omitting little points of theoretical variance
between the different schools.
Briefly, then, the
human aura may be described as a fine, ethereal radiation or emanation
surrounding each and every living human being. It extends from two to three
feet, in all directions, from the body. It assumes an oval shape—a great
egg-shaped nebula surrounding the body on all sides for a distance of two or
three feet. This aura is sometimes referred to, in ordinary terms, as the
"psychic atmosphere" of a person, or as his "magnetic
atmosphere."
This atmosphere or
aura is apparent to a large percentage of persons in the sense of the
psychic awareness generally called "feeling," though the term is not
a clear one. The majority of persons are more or less aware of that subtle
something about the personality of others, which can be sensed or felt in a
clear though unusual way when the other persons are near by, even though they
may be out of the range of the vision. Being outside of the ordinary range of
the five senses, we are apt to feel that there is something queer or uncanny
about these feelings of projected personality. But every person, deep in his
heart, knows them to be realities and admits their effect upon his impressions
regarding the persons from whom they emanate. Even small children, infants
even, perceive this influence, and respond to it in the matter of likes and
dislikes.
But, human testimony
regarding the existence and character of the human aura does not stop with the
reports of the psychic senses to which we have just referred. There are many
individuals of the race—a far greater percentage than is generally imagined—who
have the gift of psychic sight more or less developed. Many persons have quite
a well-developed power of this kind, who do not mention it to their
acquaintances for fear of ridicule, or of being thought
"queer." In addition to these persons, there are here and there to be
found well-developed, clear-sighted, or truly clairvoyant persons, whose powers
of psychic perception are as highly developed as are the ordinary senses of the
average individual. And, the reports of these persons, far apart in time and
space though they may be, have always agreed on the main points of psychic
phenomena, particularly in regards to the human aura.
To the highly
developed clairvoyant vision, every human being is seen as surrounded by the
egg-shaped aura of two or three feet in depth, more dense and thick in the
portion nearest the body, and then gradually becoming more tenuous, thin and
indistinct as the distance from the body is increased. By the psychic
perception, the aura is seen as a luminous cloud—a phosphorescent flame—deep
and dense around the centre and then gradually shading into indistinctness
toward the edges. As a matter of fact, as all developed occultists know, the
aura really extends very much further than even the best clairvoyant vision can
perceive it, and its psychic influence is perceptible at quite a distance in
many cases. In this respect it is like any flame on the
physical plane—it gradually fades into indistinctness, its rays persisting far
beyond the reach of the vision, as may be proved by means of chemical
apparatus, etc.
To the highly
developed clairvoyant vision, the human aura is seen to be composed of all the
colors of the spectrum, the combinations of colors differing in various
persons, and constantly shifting in the case of every person. These colors
reflect the mental (particularly the emotional) states of the person in whose
aura they are manifested. Each mental state has its own particular combination
formed from the few elementary colors which represent the elementary mental
conditions. As the mind is ever shifting and changing its states, it follows
that there will ever be a corresponding series of shifting changes in the
colors of the human aura.
The shades and colors
of the aura present an ever changing kaleidoscopic spectacle, of wonderful
beauty and most interesting character. The trained occultist is able to read
the character of any person, as well as the nature of his passing thoughts and
feelings, by simply studying the shifting colors of his aura. To the developed
occultist the mind and character become as an open
book, to be studied carefully and intelligently.
Even the student of
occultism, who has not been able to develop the clairvoyant vision to such a
high degree, is soon able to develop the sense of psychic perception whereby he
is able to at least "feel" the vibrations of the aura, though he may
not see the colors, and thus be able to interpret the mental states which have
caused them. The principle is of course the same, as the colors are but the
outward appearance of the vibrations themselves, just as the ordinary colors on
the physical plane are merely the outward manifestation of vibration of matter.
But it must not be
supposed that the human aura is always perceived in the appearance of a
luminous cloud of ever-changing color. When we say that such is its
characteristic appearance, we mean it in the same sense that we describe the
ocean as a calm, deep body of greenish waters. We know, however, that at times
the ocean presents no such appearance, but, instead, is seen as rising in great
mountainous waves, white capped, and threatening the tiny vessels of men with
its power. Or again, we may define the word "flame" in the sense of a
steady bright stream of burning gas, whereas, we know
only too well, that the word also indicates the great hot tongues of fiery
force that stream out from the windows of a burning building, and lick to
destruction all with which it comes in contact.
So it is with the
human aura. At times it may be seen as a beautiful, calm, luminous atmosphere,
presenting the appearance of a great opal under the rays of the sun. Again, it
blazes like the flames of a great furnace, shooting forth great tongues of fire
in this direction and that, rising and falling in great waves of emotional
excitement, or passion, or perhaps whirling like a great fiery maelstrom toward
its centre, or swirling in an outward movement away from its centre. Again it
may be seen as projecting from its depths smaller bodies or centres of mental
vibration, which like sparks from a furnace detach themselves from the parent
flame, and travel far away in other directions—these are the projected
thought-forms of which all occultists are fond of speaking and which make plain
many strange psychic occurrences.
So, it will be seen,
the human aura is a very important and interesting phase of the personality of
every individual. The psychic phase of man is as much the man himself as is the physical phase—the complete man being made up of the two
phases. Man invisible is as much the real man as is man visible. As the finer
forms of nature are always the most powerful, so is the psychic man more potent
than the physical man.
In this book, I speak
of the human aura, and its colors, as being perceived by astral or clairvoyant
vision, for this is the way in which it is perceived and studied by the
occultist. The occult teaching is that, in the evolution of the race, this
astral vision will eventually become the common property of every human
being—it so exists even now, and needs only development to perfect it.
But modern physical
science is today offering corroborative proof (though the same is not needed by
the occultist who has the astral vision) to the general public, of the
existence of the human aura. In Europe, especially, a number of scientists have
written on the subject of the aura, and have described the result of the
experiments in which the aura has been perceived, and even photographed, by
means of fluorescent screens, such as are used in taking X-Ray photographs,
etc. Leading authorities in England, France, and still more recently, in
Germany, have reported the discovery of a nebulous, hazy,
radio-active energy or substance, around the body of human beings. In short,
they now claim that every human being is radio-active, and that the auric
radiation may be registered and perceived by means of a screen composed of
certain fluorescent material, interposed between the eye of the observer, and
the person observed.
This aura, so
discovered (!) by the scientists, is called by them the "human
atmosphere," and is classified by them as similar to the radiations of
other radio-active substances, radium, for instance. They have failed to
discover color in this atmosphere, however, and know nothing, apparently, of
the relation between auric colors and mental and emotional states, which are so
familiar to every advanced occultist. I mention this fact merely as a matter of
general interest and information to the student, and not as indicating, even in
the slightest degree, any idea on my part that the old occult teaching, and the
observed phenomena accompanying the same, regarding the human aura, require any
proof or backing up on the part of material scientists. On the contrary, I feel
that material science should feel flattered by the backing up
by occult science of the new discovery of the "human atmosphere." A
little later on, material science may also discover the auric colors, and announce
the same to the wondering world, as a new truth.
CHAPTER II.
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