AURA-SOMA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

1. What are the main benefits of an Aura-Soma consultation?

By understanding the colours you have chosen you are provided with an opportunity to recognise yourself at a deep level as the colours shed light on the question of WHO AM I? That is, what personal QUALITIES, GIFTS and VALUES you wish to express in life and therefore, what you desire most to GIVE and RECEIVE in life. Also, you can recognise what are your greatest CHALLENGES in life and perceive them and yourself with compassion and embrace them as personal GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES to further develop and support your gifts and talents. The consultation helps you sense where you are at now in terms of these matters in your life and where you are headed and thus, what may be the best next step to take from here.

In this way, Aura-Soma helps many people finally begin to see and appreciate who they are and value their uniqueness. Then, as they begin to more consciously develop and express their individuality they find direction, personal meaning and purpose in their life. The better we see and know ourselves, the better equipped we are to make choices to create a fulfilling life for ourselves and reach our potential.

In a nutshell, Aura-Soma helps you:
SEE WHO YOU ARE
And then, inspires you to
LIVE YOUR MARK!
(That is, your life's blueprint that is as unique as your fingerprint).

2. What does an Aura-Soma consultation involve?

When you face the wonderful array of Aura-Soma equilibrium bottles you have the possibility of recognising yourself at a very deep level. You will be invited to select the four Equilibrium bottles that attract you the most. This is the most important part of the consultation because it is where you as the client take responsibility for yourself and your process. Everything that follows in the consultation will be based upon your recognition of yourself. The practitioner will simply help you to explore what has been revealed through the colour selection you have made. You will also be given the opportunity to purchase any of the Aura-Soma products and to personally experience their supportive energies. Aura-Soma goes to the heart of any issue. It assists you to access your potential and correct the subtle energy imbalances that underlie disharmony. In an Aura-Soma Consultation the focus is on awareness - there is no diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition or physical or psychological problem. Nor are any therapeutic claims made for the Aura-Soma products and they are not promoted as having a direct influence on the functioning on the physical body's systems. Aura-Soma recommends that you consult a suitably qualified professional where necessary. (This description appears on the Aura-Soma Consultation Information Sheet).

3. How does Aura-Soma work?

There is scientific evidence to support the importance and influence of colour on human beings.

Quantum physics has found that light-energy is the basic building block of all creation. In fact, Einstein said: "All matter is light vibrating at different frequencies." This includes the human body. Likewise, colour is light, vibrating at different wavelengths and frequencies. For example, in the colour spectrum red has the longest wavelength and slowest frequency whereas violet has the shortest wavelength and fastest frequency. Thus, colour is a part of the underlying order of the universe and colour is an intrinsic part of who we are. In fact, Aura-Soma means "light-body" and when applying the equilibrium bottles, it works with the chakra energy centres of the human subtle energy body as described in many eastern traditions, with each chakra (or subtle energy centre) corresponding to a rainbow colour.

Just as colour on the macro level is part of the underlying order/pattern of the universe, colour on the micro level, being an intrinsic part of who we are, can reveal underlying emotional and mental patterns and themes operating in an individual person's life. The scientific answer to how colour impacts our body physically and on an emotional and mental level is explained in the following excerpts:

"...as Christopher Barber of the North Birmingham Health Service in England writes in the July 1999 British Journal of Nursing, the sensory-neural pathways that carry these messages [of colour] to the brain: 'pass through the thalamus where they are implicated in either inhibition or enhanced action of neurotransmitters. Some of these neurotransmitters impact upon the physiological aspects of stress such as heart rate, muscle tension and blood pressure while others impact upon mental and emotional aspects.' " *

"The reason why colour affects us on such a deep level is because cells use light to communicate their bio-information to each other. In treatment with colour, which indeed is light, the cells accordingly pass the healing information associated with the specific colour chosen for the process from one cell to another." **

4. What are some key premises in the Aura-Soma system?

Besides "you are the colours you choose" and the intrinsic meaningfulness of colour other key premises include:

The Aura-Soma approach is often described as non-intrusive and self-selective. This is because individuals take responsibility for the consultation process by choosing the colours that most attract them and what products, if any, they wish to use on themselves. Aura-Soma is a system that believes that nobody knows you better than you know yourself, and each of us can intuitively recognise ourselves. It is not the role of the practitioner to tell you what your colours are but rather help you understand the colours you have chosen for yourself.

Vicky Wall, the founder of Aura-soma often said "the greater guide lies within" this is why each person is able to recognise for themselves which colours speak to them. Then, when it comes to using the bottles and the other Aura-Soma products including pomanders and quintessences, practitioners provide guidelines on their use but ultimately trust that the individual will also use their own guidance on how to best use the product for themselves.

Aura-Soma is described as a tool of consciousness as the focus is on using colour to support our growth towards self-awareness, to assist us to become more conscious of who we truly are and to evolve into a greater expression of that in our life and to overcome all that blocks us from being that which we desire to be. As we become more conscious in our lives we begin to be less reactive and more responsible when making our life choices.

Aura-Soma recognises that there is really only one dis-ease - not knowing one's place in life or the meaning of this life. This is what results in resistance, stress and physical ailments. Aura-Soma aims to help you find and fulfil your own mission in life.

5. What do the equilibrium bottles contain?

Vicky Wall described the equilibrium bottles as "living jewels" of essential oils, herb extracts and crystal energies. Each bottle is made of up two fractions, an oil fraction on the top and a water fraction on the bottom. The oil fraction contains natural colouring, lotus oil, essential oils and crystal energies. Within the water fraction there is natural colouring, herbal extracts and crystal energies and water from the Chalice Well, Glastonbury. Colour is at the heart of the system so the plant and crystal contents in each bottle are based on their colour signature. For example, amethyst and lavender correspond with violet fractions. Whereas, rose quartz and rose are appropriate for pink fractions.

When shaken together, for a short time an emulsion of 50% water and 50% oil is produced. This proportions corresponds exactly to the consistency of asses milk. Asses milk is what Cleopatra used to bathe in to maintain her soft and beautiful skin. Emulsions with these proportions of oil and water are ideally suited to penetrate the skin and Aura-Soma equilibrium bottles are a unique replica of this.

6. How do I use an equilibrium bottle?

To apply equilibrium, shake the bottle vigorously with your left hand for about five seconds to allow the two fractions to temporarily form a combined emulsion as well as establishing an energetic link between yourself and your bottle. (Due to the unique energetic link formed it is advised that only you should use and handle your bottle). Pour some of this liquid into the palm of your hand, and massage the liquid onto your skin in a complete band around the body at the level of the chakra(s) to which the colour(s) within the bottle relate. Remember, feel free to use your intuition to guide you in any further application of the oil keeping in mind they are for external use only.

It is recommended that you work with the products at a pace you feel comfortable, Aura-Soma is intended to be a supportive and gentle process. As the equilibrium bottle works with you it can absorb some of your energies. This may result in changes to the appearance of the liquid including its colour(s). If this happens do not be concerned as this reflects the fact that the bottle is working closely with you and the energetic integrity of the product is still maintained. It is also advisable to keep the bottle out of direct sunlight or extremes of temperature to preserve its living energies.

7. Do I need to use a bottle on my body or is just having a consultation enough?

Vicky Wall, the founder of Aura-Soma used to say that to view the equilibrium bottles is like looking at a photo of your beloved, but to apply the contents onto the body is like holding them in your arms.

The consultation is an insightful experience where you gain insight into who you are as you see your true colours before you. It articulates emotional, mental and even spiritual patterns - those that you find challenging as well as those that reflect your gifts and talents. This information is very helpful for people and often gives them answers to deep questions they have been asking themselves. In this way, a consultation is useful whether you choose to use your equilibrium bottle(s) or not.

However, if you choose to have the consultation AND use the products that are relevant based on your consultation selection, the bottles provide ongoing support to you and allow you to embody and actively extend the insights gained in the consultation into your everyday life. The bottles are like a gentle support as they seek to harmonise imbalances in the subtle body that originate from the lack of colour or overabundance of specific colours in your body. This rebalancing can effect you positively on many levels and the response will be unique to you as the bottles act as a stimulant for that which is already present within you. The bottles help you get on track to being more of who you truly are by helping you deal with emotional and mental blocks and encouraging you to express your strengths, gifts and talents.

The impact of the bottle is sometimes soft and subtle while other times gives impetus to a major shift. The anecdotal evidence shows the response to using the bottles is as varied as the colours and the people that use them. For example, using a blue combination might make one person feel they can begin to trust others more while another person may find it helps them speak up for themselves and communicate their opinions more openly. A red combination might help one person release pent up anger yet give another person the energy and drive they were missing in their life. Whatever the impact, all the products are designed to be entirely helpful as it supports your personal growth and self-awareness.

8. How often should I have a consultation?

As is frequently repeated in Aura-Soma "the greater guide lies within" however we do offer guidelines to help. While some people only have a consultation occasionally, while others use it when they find themselves at a crossroads in life, Aura-Soma is ideally suited to support you throughout life on an ongoing basis.

As we are all constantly changing and evolving in our lives, Aura-Soma consultations help you gain insight and clarity along the way. As Socrates said: "An unexamined life is not worth living." A consultation provides the time, space and information you need to help you make an honest assessment of where you have been, where you are now and where you are heading, and thus, can assist you in making the best possible choices in your life at any given time. As we are all busy with our outer lives Aura-Soma is a great way to bring our attention to what is going on in our inner world as well, which sometimes is otherwise neglected.

It is also a great way to keep a record of your development as each selection of bottles at each consultation is like a snapshot of where you are at, at a given time in your life on an emotional, mental and spiritual level. As you change and particularly as you use the bottles, it is like you are peeling back the layers of an onion as you deal with your challenges and reveal more of you and your gifts in a step-by-step process. In this way, as you come to the end of a bottle you will probably soon find you are ready to have another consultation and use another bottle to support you as you peel back the next layer of your onion as you move towards being more authentically you!

Aura-Soma is truly a tool for your personal growth and development as it aids your self-awareness along the way.

9. How can a little dual-coloured Aura-Soma equilibrium bottle encompass a person's individuality especially when many different people may choose the same bottle?

I would begin by mentioning that the beauty and complexity of a human being can never be fully articulated. Mystery is an intrinsic part of being human and in many ways we are all beyond definition. However, just like a candid photograph - a true impression, a touch of who a person truly is, can be captured in a moment in time. Furthermore, the integrity of what is captured can be sensed. This is how Aura-Soma works.

The colours to which an individual is attracted reveal underlying patterns operating on an emotional, mental and even spiritual level. These patterns influence how a person perceives the world and therefore their behaviour. If you are familiar with Jung's concept archetypes, I would describe colours as archetypes. In revealing these patterns, this information aids people's self-awareness, often confirming for the first time aspects of who they are. Aspects to themselves that they always knew deep down existed, yet they could not quite articulate, until now. This conscious clarity then helps them affirm who they are and also guide their future growth.

It is also interesting to note that as we grow as individuals the colours that we feel attracted to and therefore reflect us, may also change. However, it is often the case that we remain attracted to the same colours/bottles overtime. Yet, what we find and understand within those colours may change. It is like reading a favourite book for a second or third time, our understanding builds as we gain new perceptions and insights each time we read it. The book has not changed, it is the reader themselves that has grown and transformed through life experience.

In regards to many different people being attracted to the same bottle, this can happen because part of the wonder of Aura-Soma is that it speaks simultaneously to the individual as well as the collective experience. Colour is often described as a language, and just like with any language, various people may make frequent use of certain words as they resonate with the meaning of those particular words, and yet how that meaning plays out in their individual experience may be very different. For example, many people might use the word "respect" and share the essence of the meaning of "respect" in common, yet also have an individual understanding and experience of "respect" in action. This same principle applies with chart topping novels, films or songs that touch the collective as they contain themes and meanings to which we can all relate, yet how these themes are experienced is unique to each individual life.

A final point, each colour/bottle contains many themes and people can relate strongly to certain themes, with other themes being less significant, within the same colour/bottle. Thus, the key themes would vary amongst different individuals. Furthermore, the other bottles within their 4-bottle selection often point to what is the most important emphasis in a colour/bottle for a given individual.

As an Aura-Soma practitioner, I must say I have never experienced the same consultation twice. Every consultation is as unique as the individual that the bottles are mirroring.

"Aura" means "an emanation" or "energy field", a field that is commonly perceived in terms of light and colour. "Soma" means "body" as in "psychosomatic"The name Aura-Soma declares the intention of the system and the potential it offers: a connection between an energy field - light - and the body. As "Aura" and "Soma" are connected by the hyphen, so the light field and the body are not separate but in fact two aspects of a deeper underlying unity, part of one energy continuum. Aura-Soma's gift is that it provides a way for the inner nature to reveal itself, to reveal itself as colour and thus speak the language of light.In many of the world's ancient wisdom traditions the language of colour plays an integral part in the evolution of the Soul. For instance in the Bardo Thodol - the Tibetan Book of the Dead - it is said that following the soul's withdrawal from the body it is exposed to a succession of flashes of light and colour.This light and colour is perceived independently of the five senses which have disappeared with the body. It is consciousness itself that is witnessing light and colour. How consciousness responds to each of these successive flashes will be the measure of the level of awareness and skill the soul has attained through practice in relation to the areas of life implied by the colours. Furthermore the soul's response to these flashes of light and colour will determine the circumstances into which it will incarnate in its next rebirth. It is no accident that the term used to describe a key part of the process of realisation of spirit should be "enlightenment", the perception of a flash of intense pure light.
From this perspective light and colour are deeply significant and play a key role in shaping our experience. They relate to consciousness that transcends the physical body. They are the key for the soul spiral (the term Vicky Wall - the founder of Aura-Soma - liked to use to describe that essence which continued from life to life) to continue its journey in other dimensions, and also the guide by which the soul spiral may return to this dimension again as a new incarnation.Most importantly light and colour continue to be the guide for the awareness that sits within us during our time on earth. Colour is the vocabulary of life. Each colour refers to areas of experience, qualities, thoughts and feelings. All that exists appears in colour.This light of awareness, this soul spiral, is usually referred to in Aura-Soma as the True Aura. It is the innermost quality of ourselves. It relates to a colour, a ray with which it has affinity, a path in which this fragment of light is evolving through the aeons, learning its lessons and refining its qualities. In this incarnation the True Aura will bring its present perfection of the colour ray with which it is involved to a life situation, a set of circumstances which may themselves also be expressed as a colour.There is a True Aura and there there is a physical vehicle, the light and the body. The task is to bring the two together. This is the work of Aura-Soma. It is implicit in the name as we have seen above. Synchronous with the process of these two, the True Aura and the body, coming together is the creation of a third thing - a light body. The light body is different from the True Aura. The True Aura always is. The light body is something that is developed through awareness. It has to be nurtured, developed and built up.
Colour operates as a signature to inform the beholder of the object's gifts and qualities. The violet of lavender and amethyst for example indicating the soothing quality of each. It is called the Science of Signatures. Let us look at an analogy from the world of Aura-Soma which brings another example of different phenomena coming together to create a third thing. This analogy concerns the Equilibrium bottles. They are composed of two mutually exclusive elements, oil and water, yet each fraction is only half of the equation. Equilibrium would not be what it is if it were only oil or only water. It is the combination that creates something greater than the sum of its parts. Indeed when using Equilibrium these two halves are required to be brought together time and again as a temporary emulsion of the two is obtained by shaking the bottle before use. Oil and water, light and the body, spirit and matter. It is when apparent opposites are unified in something greater that a larger wholeness may be realised.
To conclude it will be revealing to look at one particular Equilibrium bottle and see what light it sheds on this subject, to me it seems to contain the essence of this theme. Equilibrium #B55 is called The Christ - a title that caused Vicky Wall much soul searching when she had the inspiration to name it so. This combination appears as a Clear fraction over a Red fraction. It addresses the theme of the light and the body in a very direct way. Red is for grounding, the material world, and the physical body which is our ground, the vehicle that enables us to interact with this plane of reality. Clear is the pure light, pure energy. In the Christ combination light and matter, Clear and Red, are joined. The demonstration of the life of Jesus the Christ bears testimony to this. The Son of the Father but born through a woman to humanity, a being both of the material world and the spiritual world. The physical body died on the Cross but the light body arose and soon ascended. Being light, gravity cold not hold it - it had no mass. It is interesting that christians come together each week to celebrate mass, that which keeps bodies from being pure energy! But then again this is the whole point. We incarnated to be in the body, not to escape from it, but to redeem it. Christ is often associated with sacrifice, but the root of sacrifice is not to forego something, it literally means to "make holy". To know this material body to be a light body - pure energy. The truth that Einstein formulated as E = mc². Mass and energy are interchangeable. Aura-Soma is light and colour made material in a bottle. We appear as a material body that could be light and colour. Feeding the energies of Aura-Soma to ourselves we can remember and live as the light.
Aura-Soma's view is that each soul works with a ray for many lifetimes. The colour of the ray would equate to the true aura colour of that soul. Aura-Soma also says that on rare occasions souls can finish with one ray and move to another. Perhaps this change is possible when an individual fragment of the impulse that gave birth to the wave finally works its bit of the picture out. At that point some souls may have an individual choice to move on to another ray and work with another impulse, bringing the consciousness that they evolved previously into the new wave.

The wave as a whole will continue to flow through history until all the souls born out of that impulse have worked their bit of it out, at which point the wave will be no more. The other option when each soul works its bit of the wave out is that it may return to the pure light field. The ocean of universal consciousness. The ocean in which the impulses arise and the masters and waves have their being. To return to this universal light field will be to completely dissolve, a dissolution beyond any clearing effect of the Clear/Clear in Aura-Soma of Serapis Bey. It will be Karmic Absolution to the point that there is no being remaining to be absolved. A complete dissolution; not just the content of mind / personality but also the structure / soul in which that content was held. When a new impulse arises out of the light field it will be an entirely new beginning, there will be no identity carried over from old waves.

The question where all this began was, "Are we light or are we colour?"
My answer would be that each soul in existence is, as an individual, a light particle, rather like a photon in quantum physics. But that none of these souls / photons is pure light, they are all inevitably coloured by the impulse and wave which has called them forth. As some souls become more conscious they may awaken to the bigger picture and learn how to move from one ray to another, a rainbow liberation within this existence. Others will simply play their part and be subsumed into the universal light field on completion of their part. In the universal light field which is ultimately all that there is there is no separate consciousness. As long as any soul is in existence it will not be the pure light but a fragment of it. The essence of consciousness is light but the soul cannot appear in manifestation except as colour. Adept souls may master all the colours and then appear as white though this would not be the pure light which would ever remain unmanifest.

What is the significance of Aura-Soma as a soul therapy?
Perhaps it is that it addresses all the rays. At the ending of one age and the birth of another Aura-Soma has appeared as an expression of the rays coming together in conscious cooperation. Aura-Soma by bringing together many colours in balance shows a way for these many waves and impulses to harmonise and merge. The souls within them may be nourished and supported in awakening to their role and fulfilment. Aura-Soma addresses the soul through the language of colour in which it has its being.

The world is a better place because you are in it, you have something unique to offer the world in a way that nobody else can. If you find this hard to believe, or know it to be true, but just can't quite articulate exactly why the world should be so grateful you are here, than Aura-Soma can assist to clarify this for you, as it helps you see and "show your true colours" to the world.

"Show your true colours". Like many common sayings, there is a deeper truth contained within this phrase than one may first expect or perceive. We are all surrounded by colour, could you imagine a world without it? We all decide what colour to wear each day, and most will have a favourite colour, and often, even one that they dislike. We've all heard of the ability that some people have to see the colourful human energy field/aura that surrounds each person. Many of us have had the pleasure of seeing our own auras photographed with Kirlian photography. Yet, despite colour being such an intrinsic part of life, and its power to arouse a personal response to it, most people also do not know the depth of meaning and insight contained in colour.

In fact, Einstein explained that all matter, including the human body, is essentially light-energy vibrating at different frequencies. And colour is light, vibrating at different frequencies along the spectrum from red through to violet and beyond. As such, colour goes to the heart of who we are as human beings and that is why we all have an innate response to it. Aura-Soma is a colour system that uses the profound language of colour and invites each person to see before them their "true colours".

At the core of Aura-Soma is a range of over 100 dual-layered "equilibrium bottles" of colour made from essential oils, herb extracts and crystal energies. An individual will choose from this selection, the four bottles to which they are most attracted. The premise is "you are the colours you choose" in the sense that the qualities represented in the colours you choose reflect your own inner qualities and potential. In this way, Aura-Soma is a tool for self-awareness, as it is as if you are looking in the mirror at yourself on an emotional, mental and spiritual level. More than that, it is an affirmation of who you are. Highlighting the unique qualities, gifts and talents you have come to express in the world and the opportunities for growth available to you. Along with the language of colour, the Aura-Soma equilibrium bottles also incorporate the wisdom of the Tarot, Numerology, Astrology and the Tree of Life, to assist in the process of gaining self-awareness.

Another way of looking at it is, your four-bottle selection, is like reading a book telling a story about you, articulating what you know on some level to be true about your life experience and underlying themes operating within it, but have not quite been able to precisely describe before. Many people have dated a new era in their life from having an Aura-Soma consultation, as they finally begin to make some real sense of themselves and thus, are able to act with more clarity, compassion and self-confidence.

"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book! The book exists for us, perchance, that will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered."

Aura-Soma: Wellness Through Colour Talks INFO LECTURES EVERY MONTH By Qualified Aura-Soma Practitioners Kaveeta
These 15 minute introductory talks are designed to give you simple tools you can use to experience the positive and supportive effects of colour in your everyday life.Examples of topics that will be covered:
* Practical ways to use colour for your wellbeing at home and work
* Using the Aura-Soma Colour Care System to see your challenges as growth opportunities
* Discover how you can recognise your gifts and talents
* Using Aura-Soma to foster self-acceptance and compassion
* What does an Aura-Soma consultation involve?
* What are the benefits of an Aura-Soma consultation?
* Colours and what they say to others about you
* The difference between Pomanders and Quintessences and how to use them
* Every day benefits of the Aura-Soma pomander