These are images from two aura readings that took place sometime in the mid 1980s. They were conducted at the CHURCH OF DIVINE MAN in Pleasanton, California. The CHURCH OF DIVINE MAN was housed in an old building off of Main Street. The Church offered all sorts of classes, seminars, and sunday religious services. They were connected to a group called the Berkeley Psychic Institute. We used to call it the PSYCHIC CHURCH. I don't remember when we first discovered that the Church was there, but one summer my bored teenage friends and I found out about the free aura readings.

We would show up in groups of two or three, and if there were enough volunteers at the church, we would all get free aura readings. They would place us in separate rooms with two or three volunteers. Each volunteer had a different role in the reading. one read the aura, and another would read the chakras. and then there was a third person who was the scribe, the person who actually colored my aura with crayons. In addition, there was one person designated as the "control", the person whose role was to observe the reading from an objective point of view.

After the session, we would receive a folder containing the record of the aura reading and an audio cassette tape recording of the session, along with all sorts of other newsletters about the church.

What the reading means:

The reading starts with the rose reading. This symbolizes how close you are to God. The closer to the sun, the better. Then there were the impressions that the readers received about my soul-age and my "programmability gauge" (my favorite. I had a low rating, 37%). Next came the aura reading and chakra reading; a complex rating system informed me of the health of my various chakras, as well as an estimation of my natural psychic abilities.

After the reading, they would ask me if I wanted an aura cleansing. Of course I got the cleansing. The volunteers would wave their hands over my body, never touching me, but feeling my aura, massaging it. when they would reach a rough spot, they would talk about my past lives and stuff. They would whisk away negative vibes from my aura, and flick their fingers to get it off of me. I was always thankful.

I don't fully recall all the strange things that they told me during these visits, but I remember a few things. They were really big on reincarnation. They told me that some of my past lives included wandering the planet as an egyptian scribe, a buddhist monk and a baby-killing black magician. In one of the readings I was told that I had a demon that lived on one side of my body. It was a force that was abusive and parasitic, feeding off of me. I was also told that I was very unique in the fact that my spirit presently inhabited two bodies, the other body belonging to a female somewhere in India.

The Church of Divine Man still exists, but not in Pleasanton anymore. there are still several branches operating in the Pacific Northwest.

notes about the new age ghetto in the USA-

When I write of the New Age movement, i am speaking about the most recent groups to emerge since the 1970's that freely associate many different spiritual concepts including victorian spiritualist ideas, christianity, older european mythology, UFOs, native american beliefs, eastern belief systems and popular psychology techniques. Strong among these ideas are the victorian concepts in particular. Most New Age cosmologies can be traced to a victorian counterpart.

There are big differences in the high and low classes of New age movement- at the bottom you find quartz crystal collectors, amphetamine use and paranoia. Most knowledge comes from popular books and word-of-mouth stories. This type of new age belief is related more to a folk religion and is often naive of a larger world view. There is often a tinge of racism and paranoia in their world views. By practicing psychic exercises culled from common occult paperback books, it is possible to elevate the banalities of poverty to cosmic significance. Unlike their more affluent counterparts, new agers in this group don't generally consign themselves to physical or dietary limitations. Their spiritual adventures are often accompanied by ingesting substances including marijuana, psychedelics, alcohol or amphetamines. Their mythologies are generally more cut and dry, and dualistic: lightness vs. darkness.

at the high end of the spectrum you have gurus, seminars, retreats and other expensive therapies that help the more privileged new ager feel good about their affluence. after eating rice and beans for a few days at a retreat, one is humbled. By placing dietary and other types of physical restrictions (much like other american puritanical societies) the new ager is forgiven of his sin of wealth and power, and is freed from other responsibilities and social obligations. It is a more vigorous and studied approach to spirituality and often requires free time; and having lots of free time is often symptomatic of monetary abundance, particularly if the practice involves retreats or other expensive pursuits.

The New Age movement has many different facets but one common thread among the various groups is their ability to sustain themselves off of people's insecurities, much like any other established religion.

Distinctions of lower class groups-
myth of abundance -gain power
myth of happiness
drugs
cheap paraphernalia
self instruction
folk approach -more dualistic mythologies

Distinctions of higher class groups-
myth of scarcity -surrender power
myth of suffering
abstinence
expensive treatments
committed practice and instruction
studied approach -seeks to equalize and balance

 

Mike Paré 2003