What Color Is Weird?

Most people – at least when not asked anonymously – don’t believe in psychic phenomena such as telekinesis, clairvoyance, and auras. But November 22, also known as International Aura Awareness Day, has been set aside primarily as an opportunity for those who see auras – and who believe in their existence – to proselytize to the unconverted.

Auras, for those not in the believer camp, are the visible emanations of the energy of the human body, or Human Energy Field. These energies are representative of emotional, mental, and physical states; for example, indigo in the aura, one Web site says, can suggest both intuition and sensitivity and also any health issues relating to the pituitary gland. Some are purely emotionally affected, while others are supposed to center around health problems. Different aura colors are also ranked by preference: some are considered “enlightened,” while others indicate the opposite.

Realityshifters.com recommends a yearly aura checkup, similar to the yearly physical suggested by doctors; the site tells us that “it is clear that you can improve your health by taking one day each year to examine your aura.” But if auras aren’t visible to most people, how does one accomplish the examination? Santa Barbarans are lucky enough to have several viable, if occasionally ruinously expensive, options.

Pamala Oslie, a local psychic whose services were mentioned in a previous Weird S.B. column, still offers her pricey aura reading services, and the do-it-yourself aura test on her Web site is still fully functional. For those who’d like a visual representation of their auras, visualizehealing.com offers some aura photography services.

Another option is, of course, to see your aura yourself – which may or may not be the easiest task in the world, and involves a long course of study, but which, at least, is free.

There are a few ways experts in the field recommend developing a sensitivity to auras. Visual concentration exercises seem to be the best way to get in touch with the auras around us, although be warned: I tried some of the exercises on this Web site, and eye strain seems to be the most noticeable result. I am seeing a variety of different colored dots, but that may or may not be a good thing.

Another suggested method for achieving a good view of auras is simply to defocus your eyes. As anyone with nearsightedness can tell you, without corrective lenses every light source is a large, fuzzy blob, surrounded by a glowing nimbus; by defocusing, you too can see these sorts of auras easily, but whether or not “real” auras will also appear is up for debate.

Weird S.B. has one request, however, for anyone in the community experimenting with auras on International Aura Awareness Day: if you see me walking by, don’t tell me what my aura says. I’m pretty sure the color that indicates a lack of belief in auras falls securely into the “unenlightened” category.

Seen anything strange lately? Let us know about it, and you may see a solution to the mystery here. Contact Elena at weirdsb@gmail.com.