THE HUMAN AURA: F.J. REBMAN.

Concluded from November issue.

AMERICAN FREEMASON, DECEMBER 1912

AT the beginning of the observation the lower blind is pulled up about half
way, or more, leaving a clear line of sky above.  The subject to be
examined is now placed in front of the black background, which must be
opposite to the window about 8 or 10 feet away. The observer stands close
up to the window and gazes for one-half to three-quarters of a minute
(30-45 seconds)-not more-through the dark green glass filter which contains
a solution of dicyanin (a certain coal-tar preparation) into the bright light of
the sky, pulls down the upper blind over the lower until the room is well
darkened and turns toward the subject.  Care must be had not to allow any
white light rays to enter the eyes whilst darkening the room.  This can be
easily avoided by keeping the dark filter in front of the eyes until the upper
blind has been pulled down.

Now put away the dark filter and gaze through the light green filter at the
body in front of the black background about 8 feet away.  After a few
seconds the observer will notice that the body has lost the sharp definition
of outlines.  It seems to gradually melt away into space.  The outstretched
hand looks as if it were covered with a large glove, like that of a catcher in
a baseball game.  The interstices between the outstretched fingers show
a cloudy effect, faintly luminous.  This becomes more strongly pronounced
when the hand is slowly moved upward and downward.

If now both hands are moved upwards and the finger-tips made to rest
upon the top of the head (both arms should be bare) two triangular spaces
between the head and the forearms and the shoulders and upper arms will
be formed.  These spaces will have the appearance as if they were filled
with a slightly luminous, smoky haze or atmosphere.  This is the aura.  It
can also be observed around the outer edge of the arms, especially around
the elbows.

The light green filter may be dispensed with altogether after it has been
used for about three minutes.  The eyes in the majority of the cases are by
that time sufficiently sensitized to receive the impressions of the short light
waves which radiate from the aura.  Moreover, they are then thoroughly
accustomed to the darkened room and the surroundings.  Many people do
not require the light dicyanin screen at all.

I take occasion here to warn the observer not to use the green glass filters,
especially the dark green, longer or more often than I have indicated
above.  The object in using them is to partially and temporarily paralyse the
rods and cones of the retina.  An unduly prolonged sensitization disturbs
the vision almost completely for the time being, and small or no results at
all will be obtained by over-sensitization.  Should the observer find that he
has transgressed this rule, let him rest his eyes upon the black background
for quite a while, but without straining them.  Gradually the optic nerves will
tone down again to normal conditions.

If you are not successful in your first attempt, do not become disheartened;
rest the eyes for at least 30 minutes before you resort again to the use of
the dark green filter.  Failure, in the majority of the cases, is due to
over-exertion and to straining of the visual organs; also to excitement and
to expectation of seeing lustrous emanations of light proceeding from the
body.  Do not look for searchlights or fireworks. The aura is only a hazy film
that surrounds the body, not unlike the nebulae in certain constellations of
stars, for instance in Orion; only more modified, more rarefied, fainter.

The following procedure will act as a good path-finder.  Let the subject
stretch out a hand with fingers spread apart as far as possible.  Now let
another person with hand extended in a similar fashion, put the finger-tips
close to the tips of the opposing hand and withdraw them slowly to a
distance of from 5 to 8 inches in a horizontal direction, returning them
again in the same slow, measured manner, but repeatedly.  The fingers of
the two hands will appear as if elongated, as if the hands were pulling
molasses candy.

You can do this with your own hands, by standing with your back towards
the light and withdrawing and approaching the out-stretched spread fingers
of the two hands.  The fingers draw out like candles until the limit of the
overlapping auras of the opposing fingers is reached, when the connecting
lines suddenly snap off like India rubber bands.  One can almost hear it.

These sheaves of light may be drawn from the elbow, the nose, the chin,
the ears, etc.  I call this experiment the first regular step in the observation
of the aura.  I have seen rays drawn out from the elbow to the length of 24
inches before they snapped off, in the presence of a dozen of observers
who simultaneously breathed a long-drawn "Ah" when the snap came.
When once the eye reacts to this phenomenon, the rest of the observation
becomes easy.

    
Other requisites for successful observations are an open mind, freedom
from prejudice and avoidance of over-anxiety and of nervous anticipation
of pyrotechnics.  One sensitization of the eyes lasts from two to four weeks. 
I have used the dark green filter but very seldom and then only for 5 to 10
seconds, and have had people come to a second demonstration two
weeks after the first, quite able to see the aura distinctly even in broad
daylight, without having recourse to either the dark or light green filter
between times. To me it seem to be a matter of education of the sense of
vision rather than of a sensitization of the retinal region."

Dr. Kilner states that the too free use of the dicyanin screens affects the
eyes perceptibly.  I found this to be the case when I first began to make
observations.  My eyes for days felt as if filled with onion fumes, causing
them to smart and run with tears.  But I am convinced that this was really
due to eye strain, produced by gazing too eagerly and intently in a dark
room at an object only faintly visible at a distance of about eight to nine
feet.  When I learned how to control my eyes with proper care, I
experienced no further trouble.

When the dark green filter is used too much - for one to two minutes or
more, the power of vision becomes dimmed to such a degree that nothing
but gray patches are visible in the darkness, and it becomes difficult to
discern even the form of the subject under observation.  The effect is
practically the same as if gazing into the bright light of the sun itself.

The aura can be divided into three distinct parts, viz: (1) The Etheric
Double. (2) The Inner Aura. (3) The Outer Aura.

Dr. Kilner says that for the want of a better expression he has borrowed the
term of Etheric Double from Occultism, for this part of the aura.

1. The Etheric Double consists of a faint dark grey, almost black envelope,
which surrounds the whole frame.  It appears like a crayon mark outlining
the contour of the body when placed against a white or a background of
a light tint. (The room in which I have given my demonstrations is stained
with a light, soft-green, flat paint, which gives no reflection.  This seems to
give even better results than the white curtain recommended by Dr. Kilner.)
It is best observed between the fingers, if spread out, and lies about
one-eighth of an inch from the skin.  Between it and the skin is a clear,
transparent space.  Another part of the body where it may be observed to
advantage is along the shoulder and neck, particularly if the observer
stands about three to four feet to the rear of the subject.  In this region the
line recedes as much as a quarter of an inch, that is to say the clear,
transparent space between the dark line and the skin is about a quarter of
an inch wide, sometimes more, sometimes less, as it varies in each
individual.  The thickness and consistence of the line also varies in
individual cases from a thirty-second to a sixteenth of an inch.  The cause
of this difference will, no doubt, become apparent as our knowledge of the
aura itself progresses.

The consistency of the Etheric Double seems to be governed by the
physical, hygienic condition of the body.  I have seen it vary in the same
individual at different times, although the aura itself was not affected.  And
again, I have seen persons who could widen or contract the space between
the Etheric Double and the body at will by at least a sixteenth of an inch. 
The effect was very much the same as if puffing out and retracting the
cheeks in slow movements.

This Etheric Double, practically speaking, disappears; or, shall I say, cannot
be distinguished, when the subject is placed in front of a dark background.

2. The Inner Aura proceeds from the Etheric Double.  It may be compared
to a band of mist from 1 1-2 to 3 inches in width, which follows the contour
of the body under normal conditions in an accurate outline.  The width of
this band depends on the individual, but may vary even in different parts
of the body in the same individual.  Its color, consistence and brightness
are also individual properties.

Dr. Kilner has evolved a regular system by which the Inner Aura can be
used as a guiding symptom in diagnosing diseased or pathological
conditions.  It seems to reflect the physical state of the anatomy like a
mirror, and internal disorders, such as incipient tumours, fibroids, etc., may
be discovered by reflex action in the Inner Aura.  Of course, it goes without
saying that it requires an experienced eye to find the flaws in the aura. But
I will not go into details here, which interest principally the medical man. Dr.
Kilner deals fully with the subsect in his book, which was primarily written
for the medical profession.

The beginner will find it a little difficult at first to find the Inner Aura and to
distinguish it from the Outer Aura, of which I shall speak anon.  But if he
will use the carmine screen, he may be greatly aided in his efforts.  There
are two carmine screens in the outfit designed by Dr. Kilner.  One is
rose-colored, the other a deep carmine.  The former is used in a
semi-darkened room; the very deep one should be employed if there is a
strong flow of daylight from the window.  The observer must stand with the
back to the window and the subject in front of a white background.  Against
this background the aura will have a grayish tint.  When peering through
the carmine screen the outlines of the Inner Aura will be sharply defined.

If the model should extend one arm horizontally over the adjoining black
background and the other over the white background, the difference in the
appearance of the Inner Aura against the two backgrounds will be quite
startling.

If the background should be arranged in wavy folds from the top
downwards and about three inches in width, the following experiment will
prove of interest.  Let the subject move the arm at full length very slowly up
and down, direct your eye above the arm and follow the movement by
gazing steadily along one of the folds in the curtain.  You will now find on
comparison that the fold disappears almost completely with the movement
of the arm to a distance of about three inches above or below the outline
of the arm.  The deep recess in the fold naturally appears much blacker
than the outer ridge, but where the Inner Aura begins to intervene, this
deeper black becomes blurred; in fact almost obliterated.  To make this
experiment the eye should have been practiced with observation for at least
half an hour, the room should be well lighted, and none of the glass filters
should be used.  The naked eye will spot it at a distance of about five feet.

To the artist, painter and sculptor, the aura ought to offer a fascinating
phenomenon.  I venture to say that its careful study must needs become
a great aid in pronouncing with the brush the rotundity of the body, more
than can now be observed in oil paintings generally, which to my eye at
least, appear as a rule, too flat.  I have always missed in portraits a certain
something, which I have been unable to define, may I say the stereoscopic
effect, until I began my studies of the aura.  The aura, it seems to me,
should supply this want.

3. The Outer Aura is possibly only an emanation or effluvium of the Inner
Aura.  It is a filmy extension which becomes extenuated until it is lost into
space, like smoke or haze.  But it has the same colour as the Inner Aura.

I have already mentioned that in boys, immature girls and in the adult male
the Outer Aura is scarcely visible and becomes a negligible quantity.  In the
adult female it is worthy of notice.  It surrounds the form like a balloon of
fairy haze, even to the extent of thirty inches.

The Aura cannot be seen through the clothing.  At any rate the means at
our hands under present conditions are inadequate to assist our vision in
discovering it.  That, perhaps, is an argument against the assumption that
the aura is an effluvium of heat or moisture proceeding from the skin, for
if it were it ought to be visible outside of the dress, since body-heat goes
beyond the textile covering, and so does moisture also.

It is much more likely that the auric force emanates from the nervous
system, for it assumes very peculiar and strongly marked shapes in
persons afflicted with nervous affections or with skin diseases.  For instance
in cases of Hysteria the Inner Aura bulges out in the small of the back (the
patient standing sideways) to the extent of 5 to 6 inches and becomes a
landmark in diagnosis.

In Epileptic subjects it is almost entirely absent on the side of the head
which is affected.  Unmistakeable diagnosis.

In Herpes Zoster the Inner Aura disappears completely over the spot where
the disease is located.

Whether the Inner and the Outer Aura are two forces differing from each
other, has not as yet been determined.  Certain it is, however, that the Inner
Aura can be controlled by the will, that is to say, that its size, denseness
and colour can be influenced by the will power of its owner.  I have seen
the colour changed from a bluish-gray into a rosy, even a crimson tint, by
an effort of the will, although only for a short time.

Also rays of light can be shot out from any pan of the body at will by
almost any individual.  If, for instance, the subject should hold out the
elbow and the observer point a finger towards it at a distance of, say,
sixteen inches, no connecting rays will be visible between the finger and
the elbow until an effort of the will is made by one or both persons.  The
ray will then shoot forward and continue till recalled.


This brief discussion is only a condensed resume of Dr. Kilner's teachings,
but I trust it conveys some idea of the importance of his findings.  Aside
from its usefulness to the medical man, who can apply it with case and
comfort as a reliable means in diagnosing disease, it should prove of
interest to the Mason for the reasons stated above, and fascinate him who
loves to explore mysterious and hidden forces of nature.   

I will end with saying that the same peculiar luminosity may be observed
around both the positive and negative poles of a horse-shoe magnet, if
hung up before a black background.

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