Why are prison walls painted pink and playroom walls splashed bright yellow? For the same reason how pretty glass bottles filled with rainbow colours can help you discover your true self, it seems. It is widely known that colours can perceptibly affect moods, but according to Aura-Soma, a colour system that claims to reveal your life destiny, colours can also transform. A colourful hoax, you say? Purplelips checks it out.

------------------------------------------------------------------- By Tanny Chia

[eastciti.com, November 7]
History of Aura-Soma

Practitioners of Aura-Soma term it a holistic therapy, which uses colour and natural aroma oils to harmonise the body, mind and spirit. An ancient practice, it was 'rediscovered' in the 80s' by Vicky Wall, a British pharmacist and clairvoyant who claimed to be able to 'see' auras, the electromagnetic fields which surround the bodies of living things and which colours are believed to indicate a person's physical and spiritual state.

Over time, Vicky gathered natural oils, essences and herbs in her laboratory to create the Aura-Soma colour system - bottles of a hundred dual-colour liquid combinations that are mirror images of a person's aura. It is from these bottles that an individual selects 4 during an Aura-Soma consultation to represent his life task, challenges, how far he has advanced towards his task, and his future. Ultimately, the aim of a consultation is to help individuals get in touch with the needs of his inner self and to achieve a balance in his life.

I first met with Anna Jasmin, Singapore's first Aura-Soma practitioner, at a Song & Kelly launch where she had been invited to 'tout' her wares - little bottles filled with a hundred shimmering colour combinations so pretty, you wanted to just reach out and gobble them. Prompted by Anna, I had selected a bottle that appealed to me, a faint glistening lilac, and passed it to her sceptically. After some intent gazing, Anna pronounced her 'diagnosis'. "You're intuitive and creative," she ventured. Hmm, not too far off, but I wasn't too convinced that my selection could actually tell much about my real self. My doubts were quickly doused when Anna delivered the 'killer' line: "And you're prone to mood swings - you often feel blue without knowing why." Such spot-on prognosis! I promised her I'd visit again.

One week later at Anna's shop on the second level of Orchard Towers, I was met with rows upon rows of glistening bottles all filled with colourful liquids. Anna instructed me to choose my first bottle, which was to represent my soul's desire, or my life's task in other words. It was hard to decide on my favourite among the myriad of very attractive colours, but I eventually picked a turquoise and violet combination - a strange selection actually, since the overriding colour in my wardrobe is green. I picked out the second bottle, a pure lilac bottle, representing the main challenge I'll face in reaching my destiny. After my favourites were eliminated, choosing the next two colours got progressively easier. My third colour, indicating how far I've travelled, was a combination of light and turquoise, and my final, the future, was a pink and pale blue combo.

Then came the diagnosis. Anna peered intensely at my 4 bottles and referred repeatedly to her stacks of reference materials. "Humans have an unconscious knowledge of colours and when we direct our attention back to colours, we awaken what is within us." Indicating my bottles, she added, "You chose the colours that relate to your being."

My destiny:
"The first bottle (turquoise and violet) says that you have a knack for mass communication, a need to express. Lilac means that you're creative and intuitive, which enables you to see both sides clearly. You make a good writer." So far, so good. At least I'm in the right line.

My challenge:
Anna went on, "The second bottle is lilac also, which means your sensitivity is also your challenge. You are prone to suffer from bouts of blues perhaps because you can easily sense the emotions of others." I must admit that she is spot-on about my mood swings, although I've never contemplated that my moods could be have been caused by others. While I was not utterly convinced by Anna's suggestion, it offered me an interesting different perspective.

The present:
My colours all revolve around the same shades. My third bottle is turquoise, again representing mass communications. Anna explained, "Right now, you're trying to improve on your mass communication, which means you're putting effort into the right area." I'm actually trying to improve on my writing, but her prognosis is uncannily close enough.

The future:
Was I going to be a best-selling author? If I was, it certainly wasn't written in my last bottle (pink and baby blue). But Anna assured that pink means that I'll have my fair share of admirers and blue indicates that peace and healing will be in my future. "You'll be more in touch with yourself." No fame, but I'm pretty happy with peace.

The Verdict:
Aura-Soma believes that its founder, Vicky Wall, had been divinely-inspired to create the hundred bottles of colours that made-up the colour system, but I'd rather believe that the practice works because it has its roots in psychology. After all, researchers have acknowledged the profound influence of colour and its relation with our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. Besides, Aura-Soma has its fair share of 'satisfied customers'. Sceptical as I was, Anna's reading for me was close enough for me to entertain the possibility that Aura-Soma is not hogwash. Approach it with a pinch of salt - it just could tell you that little more about yourself.

A 1-hour colour consultation with Anna costs $20.

>> Aura-Soma unofficial homepage

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