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AURA VOCABULARY

This book is designed for the beginner to understand how to read and work with auric energy fields. Here are some key words that will help us along. Refer back to this glossary as you read this text, so you can learn the meanings of these vocabulary words as you apply them. May this book inspire you to dive much deeper into the complex philosophies and cosmologies of energy science!

ANIMISM is a worldview that posits that all things, both animate and seemingly inanimate, possess a spirit and a consciousness. When you view the world animistically, the moon is alive, the plants have selfhood, a vase has a spirit, animals are sentient, and the ocean has an intelligence. My own worldview is animistic, and therefore we will be looking at the human aura as well as the energy fields of nonhuman beings.

ATTACHMENTS are entities that exist in your energy field that both feed and feed on your energy. For example, a being from the astral plane can be attached to your energy, or a cord of attachment can connect your energy to another person. In much the same way that the Physical Body is teeming with trillions of microbes, the Energy Body is host to other energies that exist in our auric field. It is important to clear both our Physical and Energy Bodies of harmful parasites and to reduce cords of attachment to people who drain our energy.

THE AURA or AURIC FIELD is an energy field that surrounds, penetrates, and extends out beyond the Physical Body. It is electromagnetic and made up of varying types of vibrations or frequencies that are particular to the individual. An aura surrounds every living thing, including humans, animals, and plants. Inanimate things such as rocks, objects made by humans, and the sun, the moon, Earth, and all the other planets in our universe have auras as well. The aura has layers in it that correspond to different mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual components of an individual.

BIOFIELD is the word chosen by a team of National Institutes of Health scientists in 1994 to describe the field of energy and information that surrounds and interpenetrates the human body. It is composed of both measurable electromagnetic energy and as yet immeasurable subtle energy.

BODY, GROSS is the Physical Body. When energy is described as gross, it means that it is connected to the physical realm and is mortal. The auric field moves from being gross to being subtle in a gradient from the Physical Body outward. The gross body is the only body in which you are a completely separate individual. As you move outward into your Energy Body, you become more and more interconnected with universal energy.

BODY, SUBTLE is the energetic body—it is not physical. When energy is described as subtle, it means that it is invisible and in some cases immortal. The auric field moves from being gross to being subtle in a gradient that moves outward from the Physical Body (grossest) to the Spiritual Body (subtlest).

CHAKRAS are located at points on the body where a number of nadis (energy channels or meridians) converge. In Indian Tantric traditions, from which the concept derives, chakras are focal points for meditation within the human body, visualized as structures of energy resembling discs or flowers.

CLAIR SENSES are psychic sensitivities that correspond to the physical senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. The “clair” prefix means “clear” in French. We have many more than five physical senses. This list of clair senses is a starting place for learning to define various psychic abilities, but be open to any and all ways that you may receive psychic information.

CLAIRAUDIENCE (clear hearing) is the ability to perceive sounds or words from sources broadcast from spiritual or ethereal realms with the inner ear. These sounds or words are perceived without the aid of the physical ear and beyond the limitations of ordinary time and space.

CLAIRCOGNIZANCE (clear knowing) is the ability to have unexplained knowledge of something. Do you ever feel like you “just know” things? For people who are claircognizant, information and ideas seem to suddenly appear. This knowing can be large or small, from understanding a complex mechanical process to knowing who is calling the moment your phone rings.

CLAIREMPATHY (clear empathy) is the ability to psychically tune in to the emotional experience of a person, place, object, plant, or animal. Clairempathy is a type of telepathy used to sense or feel within oneself the attitude, emotion, or ailment of another person or entity. Most people are clairempathetic. It is a sense that can be cultivated and controlled through various intuitive development exercises.

CLAIRGUSTANCE (clear tasting) is the ability to taste a substance without the physical tongue. Those who possess this ability are able to perceive the essence of a substance from the spiritual or ethereal realm through taste without the restrictions of time or space.

CLAIRSALIENCE (clear smelling) is the ability to smell odors that are not present in the physical realm. Mediums can often smell perfumes or food from the spirit realm. These odors are perceived without the aid of the physical nose and without the ordinary limitations of time or space.

CLAIRSENTIENCE (clear sensing) is the ability to perceive information through a physical or emotional feeling within the body without the use of the five physical senses. Clairsentience is often described as a “gut feeling.”

CLAIRTANGENCY (clear touching) is more commonly known as psychometry. This describes the ability to handle an object or touch an area and perceive through the palms of one’s hands information about the article’s owner or history that was not previously known.

CLAIRVOYANCE (clear seeing) is the ability to receive extrasensory impressions and symbols in the form of inner sight. For clairvoyants, mental images are perceived without the aid of the physical eyes and beyond the limitations of ordinary time and space.

CORDS (sometimes called “etheric cords”) are connective threads that allow for the transmission of information, energy, and emotion between beings beyond the limitations of ordinary time and space. Cords exist that connect all beings to each other. These can be perceived in the Astral Body of the human aura. Cords can become enlarged when we become particularly close to someone, or when someone has decided to drain or plug into our energy directly. Most people feel these enlarged cords. The place where the cord connects to the Physical Body can be an area where we feel heat, tingling, or pain.

COSMOLOGY is a theory or belief system that describes the origins and emanations of everything that exists. A scientific or religious cosmology will attempt to explain the origin, structure, and meaning of the universe. There are many cosmologies that include different conceptions of space, time, and the meaning of life. Your cosmology affects your aura and causes it to resonate with people who have the same cosmological view you do.

ELECTROMAGNETISM exists within every biological body. Electricity is required for the nervous system to send signals throughout the body and to the brain, making it possible for us to move, think, and feel. Human electricity in the brain and nervous system creates human magnetic fields. There are billions of nerve impulses in the body, and these are constantly creating complex magnetic fields. The human electromagnetic field is generated most strongly by the heart. Bioelectromagnetics is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities.

ENERGY defies simple explanation. The word derives from the Ancient Greek energeia, which loosely means “activity.” Energy is an invisible force that animates, transforms, and changes objects. Scientists have categorized different forms of energy, such as electrical energy, magnetic energy, radiant energy, or thermal energy. Many spiritual traditions describe a universal energy that animates all life.

ENERGY HEALING describes any practice that works on healing subtle or invisible energy to restore health and balance to a person, place, or thing.

ENERGY SIGNATURE describes the specific and unique energy field that defines individual beings. Just as each human being has a unique set of fingerprints, every physical being also has an energy signature that is unique. No two energy signatures are the same. Every being generates a fundamental frequency that is particular to itself. This signature in turn propagates into space an infinite series of harmonics, all bearing an integral relationship to the fundamental frequency of the cosmos. In other words, your energy signature harmonizes with all life.

ESP stands for “extrasensory perception” and is used as an umbrella term to describe psychic sensory perceptions and abilities including but not limited to clairvoyance, telepathy, and psychic mediumship.

FIELDS interrelate and interconnect matter and energy within their realm of influence. Fields are not a form of matter; rather, matter is energy bound within fields. In contemporary physics, several kinds of fundamental fields are recognized, including gravitational and electromagnetic fields.

FORCE can be described as an active power, strength, or energy. In physics, force is an external agency capable of altering the state of rest or motion of a body.

FREQUENCY is the rate at which a vibration occurs that constitutes a wave. The frequency of waves is usually measured per second.

LUCID DREAMING occurs when dreamers become aware that they are dreaming without waking up. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the characters, narrative, and environment.

MERIDIANS are pathways of energy that move throughout the body. In Chinese medicine, there are twelve major meridians that run on each side of the body, one side mirroring the other. Each meridian corresponds to an internal organ. In Ayurvedic medicine, these energy pathways are called “nadis,” and they connect to the chakra system.

THE MORPHIC FIELD is an invisible field of energy around an entity that gives each member of a species behavioral, cultural, and developmental codes. This field can be thought of as collective memory. A morphic field of a particular species contains all of the information about that species that has been established by repeated behaviors throughout generations. A morphic field can be built upon, establish characteristics, gain strength from repetitious actions or thoughts, and be added to by other members of the same species. This term was coined by biologist Rupert Sheldrake.

PLANE, ASTRAL is a nonphysical dimension of existence that sits between the Physical Plane and the Spiritual Plane. The Astral Body travels to the Astral Plane when you experience dreams, imaginary realms, and “out of body” occurrences when your awareness separates from your Physical Body.

This plane of existence has been described by classical neo-Platonic, medieval European, Eastern, and Western esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. It is described as being of a finer vibration and substance than physical reality, and is generally believed to be populated by spirits and other immaterial beings. You can consciously enter the Astral Plane through meditation, lucid dreaming, and trance states.

There are philosophical frameworks that are particular to the Astral Plane. On the Astral Plane, everything is alive and everything is connected. In the framework of this world, telepathy and clairvoyance are natural facts. Mental communication (regardless of distance and with everything that exists) is possible because everything is connected. Emotions can be experienced because of empathetic connectivity. Auras can be seen and felt because energy is a connective force. Past and future lives can be known because life is cyclic and time is synchronous. Death, at this level, is only a transition, part of a cycle, whereas on the Physical Plane death appears to be a finality.

PLANE, PHYSICAL is what most people in modern society would call consensus reality. This is the realm that is affirmed by our physical senses. The philosophical framework for the Physical Plane is that everything is separate and definable. This philosophy allows for making classifications and categories, the laws of classical physics, empirical science, and the various philosophies of cause and effect.

PLANE, SPIRITUAL is a nonphysical dimension of existence that sits outside the Astral Plane and is made up of the subtlest energy. The philosophical framework for the Spiritual Plane is “Everything Is One.” It is completely transpersonal, and there is no separation between one thing and another. The deepest experience of this plane is generally called “enlightenment.” Language cannot describe the experiences that occur on the Spiritual Plane, as one of the main duties of language is to classify and categorize.

RESONANCE comes from the Latin resonare, which means “to resound”—to sound out together with a loud reverberation. Objects tend to vibrate at a specific rate known as the object’s natural, or resonant, frequency. An object will vibrate much more strongly when it is subjected to vibrations at a frequency equal to or very close to its natural frequency. In physics, this phenomenon is called “resonance.” Resonance also applies to the human energy field. Each person has a specific energetic vibration. Your particular vibration will attract and amplify any like vibrations in your environment. Like intensifies like.

RIGHT RELATIONSHIP is a harmonious connection between different parties that is achieved through mutual respect and an equal energy exchange. Right relationship can exist between a person and the land they live on, a healer and a client, a teacher and a student, or multiple beings working in cooperation. Any relationship that you are in can be a right relationship.

SYNTHESTHESIA derives from the Ancient Greek syn, “together,” and aisthēsis, “sensation,” and refers to the experience of having “joined senses.” People with synesthesia often experience perceiving something through multiple combined senses. For example, a synesthete may perceive the color blue as having a distinct sound, or the sound of crickets chirping as having a particular smell. Many of our senses are innately linked. Smell and taste are linked together because a combination of odor and taste information helps create the perception of flavor in the brain.

THOUGHT FORMS are mental constructs or images that are highly charged with repetition, emotion, and energy. Thought forms can be projected consciously or unconsciously at another person. A thought form can mark or alter a person’s energy field and can cause a person to attract or be attracted to whatever the thought form represents. Sometimes thought forms have lives of their own and function like an attachment. Advertising, for example, can create thought forms through a mixture of repetition, symbol, and emotional charge. An early Buddhist text, the Samaññaphala Sutta, lists the ability to create a “mind-made body” as one of the effects of working with mindfulness practice.

UNIVERSAL ENERGY is a cosmic vital energy that animates all beings and links them to the universe as a whole.

THE UNIVERSAL ENERGY FIELD has many different names, including the Universal Mind, the Collective Consciousness, and the Akasha. This is the energy field of the entire universe. It links everyone and everything in our universe and beyond—past, present, and future. It can be compared to a huge energetic spiderweb that joins all of creation together.

VIBRATION is an instance of shaking motion, quiver, or tremor caused by an external force such as sound or movement. There is no solidity to be found in the universe. Any form that appears solid is actually created by an underlying vibration. Matter is constantly changing from a solid particle to an energetic wave through vibration.

WAVES can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium, transporting energy from one location to another. For example, radio waves are electromagnetic waves that are generated by a transmitter and sent out from its antenna to travel through space. These waves are then received by a radio receiver connected to another antenna.