The Aura - Glyn Edwards and Santoshan From Tune in to your Spiritual Potential

The Aura

Glyn Edwards and Santoshan
From Tune in to your Spiritual Potential
Published by Foulsham/Quantum Books

Widen my awareness; so I may develop
and receive more of Your gracious Light.

The aura is constructed of many levels or different grades of vibrations. In literature about the aura, and in accounts of those who claim to perceive it, we often find contradictions about what the aura is and what it consists of. It all comes down to investigation, perception and psychic awareness.

We are constantly learning more about the human personality, and it may well be that there are levels beyond what we can perceive or understand. So any hard and fast approach to this subject could prove to be limiting. The following is merely a brief description and a personal view of some levels of our being, which relate to various levels found within the human aura. By understanding these levels, we not only come to know and understand ourselves, but also come to realise the various forces at work in all human life.

The Spirit
The highest principle in man/woman is the spirit, and it is this which gives life to our physical form. It is the eternal ‘I’, the God within, the part that links us with the creative principle in all life. It is the True Self, the eternal good, which is constantly trying to tell us how we should be, and seeks to provides us with limitless potential at every level of our being. We must therefore try in our development to understand this higher Self and observe how it functions through us, and why. We must endeavour to awaken to the spirit within, as well as the Spirit in all life. By doing so, we will open ourselves to a variety of possibilities and experience.*

The Intuitive and the Inspirational
There is something in each of us which knows itself to be something more than the body, the mind and the emotions. We can term this state of knowing as being a high form of intuition. Its development can be likened to an echo of the spirit; something that keeps endeavouring to bring to the surface of our mind, a superior sense of being. When this level is highly developed, we experience the Reality behind the appearances of the world. We discover unity in all life, and through that unity inspiration flows as a creative force.

Intuition is a right-brain activity which draws mainly on unconscious material. It can function on a spiritual, mental or emotional level. Some people actually experience intuition in the form of physical sensations, such as tingling of the skin, or a tightening in the stomach—what some people call a ‘gut-feeling’.

Intuition is often more developed in those who have a high degree of imagination, such as children and artists. Women are generally more intuitive than men. It is an essential part of psychic and mediumistic awareness, and on an everyday level, it functions in the form of hunches and feelings of ‘knowing’ when one is on the right track.

The Mental Level: the Will & the Intellect
Both the will and the intellect are two important functions of the mind. The will is a product of the conscious mind and is something that can be used by it. Through the use of the will we can have control over conscious thought and behaviour. But the will cannot directly affect our unconscious instincts and behaviour; although it can have substantial indirect influence over them through conscious processes.

The will is one of various mental activities which entails focussing our awareness, in order to carry out specific tasks that satisfy certain needs. It is a vital ingredient in self-realisation and spiritual development; as it can be used to overcome inner conflict and various negative character traits, as well as direct and focus our attention in periods of meditation.

The intellectual level is connected with left-brain activities, such as logical, rational and analytical thinking. Whereas our senses supply us with information, it is the intellect that tells us what it is we are sensing.

Our intellect can be used for different types of thinking. On a simplistic level, we could perhaps talk of ‘practical’ and ‘specialist’ uses of the intellect. The first being about everyday life and understanding, and the latter being about developed knowledge in a particular area. One might have specialists knowledge, but might not be very effective on a practical everyday level.

It is important to balance the intellect with the intuitive level, so that one does not inhibit the other. Although inspiration functions through the intuitive level, one’s intellect can help to give it more form and structure. For instance, a writer may have a flash of inspiration and write wildly for hours. But after this period, the writer will often need to analyse the content, as well as edit and arrange it into more logical order and sentences. The ability to understand language and writing is also a left-brain activity.

The Emotions
We all have natural instincts and emotions that work through our personality and character. It is through the mind and its connection with the senses that emotions are generated. Generally we respond to senory information by appraising things as potentially good or bad, after which emotions arise according to the judgment we have made.

Rarely, if ever, do we experience one emotion on its own. Some have taken the extreme view that the emotion of aggression is something which we all possess, instinctively, and is something that needs to be released safely: which can be done by channelling it into various activities, such as sport. Nonetheless, this does not fit with our experience of everyone we meet. A more accurate view seems to be that aggression can often be the result of environmental conditions and restraints. As human beings we might feel the need to socialise and have different types of relationships, in order to fulfil certain goals, desires and needs. When we receive more than we expect, it often makes us happy. But when our needs are not being met, it often causes frustration, which can surface in the form of aggression, or in other ways, such as depression or apathy.

We also possess various automatic responses that we share with other life on this earth, such as the ‘fight or flight’ response; and are not the only life form that displays affection. Cultural differences can also have a large influence on the way we act. We see different countries having different standards of behaviour which affect the way people emotionally express themselves.

On the whole, the emotional level of our being is about the way we act and respond to life, and has much to do with our psychological self, our habitual self, and our worldly personality and character. However, heightened emotions of love, awe and ecstacy can have a transcendent function; and as a product of evolution and nature, a refined level of our instincts, like our higher Self, may also be trying to encourage us to develop and to find our true place in the universe.

We should strive to become aware of the various conscious and unconscious forces working within us and around us, and become aware of how they affect and influence our life, and cultivate more positive qualities, such as compassion and openness. We also need to find ways of releasing any accumulated stress caused by modern living, and become more aware of our needs. Through this we will develop and discover more peace in our life.

The Body
Our bodies are made up of atoms that are the building blocks of all physical life. We should realise that nothing in nature is wasted. Our physical bodies are the product of atoms that once made stars, plants and other life in the universe. It is within the physical body’s aura that some mediums and psychics claim to be able to perceive disease and health problems; although some say that health problems are first detected in the energy body—often referred to as the ‘etheric body’ by mediums. They tell us that every organ and cell has its own vibration and pattern of energy, which can be perceived within the auric field.

We should realise that the body exists because of its spiritual counterpart. The spirit seeks to work through our body, mind and feelings, in order to express itself in and through all that we do. A combination and balance of the spirit, intuitive, mental, emotional and physical levels of our being, will produce a balanced, well-rounded, holistic approach to life.

The Energy Body
Surrounding and working within everyone there exists a non-physical level of energy and activity. It is affected by all other levels of our being, including our conscious and unconscious minds. Various mediums believe this energy is used in the production of mental and physical mediumship, as well as in healing. Objective clairvoyants say that it can be seen surrounding the physical body, and those who are sensitive to it, say that it can be experienced constantly changing and working within and around the body. But what this energy is and what it does is by no means clear, and has not yet been recognised by modern science.

Some people call this level the ‘subtle body’; others call it the ‘etheric body’. There are various views about its function as well as its use. Different people perceive and interpret this field of energy in different ways, and have different ideas about the way it affects us, as well as how we can affect it. The Chinese talk about the ‘chi energy’, and yogis talk about ‘pranic energy’. Whether these are terms for a similar thing, or for different levels of activity, is a matter for further investigation.

All these levels will vibrate as a variety of colours within the auric field. These colours all have quite specific meanings connected to different levels of our being. Nonetheless, all levels are interconnected and influence one another. Some say that there are certain colours that are static. If this is so, we must ask ourselves why; as we are constantly changing, and so therefore must the colours within our aura be. They may well represent potential that has not yet been realised.

On the whole, the colours within the aura constantly change as one changes one’s thoughts, feelings, environment, etc. As we grow in our development certain changes will happen within us, which will be reflected within our aura. To understand what the various colours in the aura mean, we need to develop our intuitive, analytical and psychic senses, and understand them in relation to the person that we perceive the colours with.

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Sensing the Aura
The following exercise will increase your sensitivity to energies in the aura:

Exercise 1
To begin to sense the aura place both hands together in an attitude of prayer. Draw the hands out to the level of your shoulders. Keep your eyes open and your awareness centred in the space between the palms, and slowly bring them nearer until you feel that you have an invisible balloon between your palms. This is the energy from your physical aura.

Exercise 2
Stand one pace back behind a friend, holding your hands up (palms facing outwards), and move slowly towards your friend until you can sense his or her aura, approximately two inches away from his or her shoulders. Try to sense the energy of your friend’s aura in your hands. Ask your friend to recall different memories, such as memories associated with love, fear or hate, or memories of someone they love who is living on this earth or in the spirit world. Ask your friend to think of healing and to think of various colours, and see if you can sense a change in the energies around him or her.

Suggestions for Further Exercises
(a) If you are an objective clairvoyant, look at people and see if you can begin to perceive a sort of misty outline around them. Keep this in clairvoyant view and see what may build from this. If you see colour, be aware that it emanates from the person and try to understand what it tells you about the person.

(b) Take a flower and go beyond the physical shape of the flower with the mind and find out what you see, what you feel, and try to understand its energy.

(c) Hold an object that belongs to someone and use psychometry (the ability to psychically feel into an object and pick up information relating to the person that the object belongs to), to sense the aura and see what information comes from it.

Psychometry is a useful tool, which relates to the aura and enables you to understand a person’s psychic activity. It is one of the most useful abilities a medium can develop.