THE ANCIENT “AURA.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16928, 30 December 1922, Page 10

THE ANCIENT “AURA.”

Tho idea of the “ aura” is very old (writes a correspondent in the “ Manchester Guardian.”) Tt was perhaps most strongly held by the ancient 1 gyptians, but it is found nowadays among many primitive people in .Africa ami elsewhere. The Egyptians believed that each man had a sh,:u-crwy spiritual counterpart called tho “ ka,” who accompanied him through life. In fl ir- tom j >;<j nt Luxor aro scenes representing tho birth of Amenhotep ITT. a king ot about Mil-1375 8.0., and the.se show tho god Klmiim fashioning both the prince and his “ ka ” on a potter’s wheel, after which the goddess Isis gives life to tlie figures. Some kings were not content with one ka. Rameses If. for instance, that inordinately vain monarch, had no less than 30. According to some accounts the ka haunted the tomb after death; according to others it went to Osiris, the god of the dead, or to the boat in which the sun god Ra travelled. In any case tho man was said to “ go to his ka,” v l)o protected him from his enemies in the next world, introduced him to the gods, and provided him with food. The funeral offerings of food and drink were given to the ka. In <one tomb scene an attendant is depicted presenting a cup to a princess, while an inscription above him reads “ Beer for thy ka.” The ka was capable of returning to earth and mingling with .iving men. but it could not resist physical force of any kind, being n mere phantasm or shadow. In fact the materialistic exT*a nation of the ka is that it developed out of observation of the shadow and of the reflection of the human form in