With regard to auras: when I was very young, I went through a phase of drawing people with what appeared to be Christmas trees, complete with brightly coloured lights, on top of their heads. I don't know how old I was - certainly very much pre-school. I remember very clearly a conversation with my parents when they asked me what these things were and I couldn't explain or even understand why my parents were asking: as far as I was concerned, these lights were just there, and real. I remember being very confused by *their* confusion and I think I stopped putting them on my drawings after that.

I'm pretty certain that I was drawing what I was at that time physically seeing, and that these lights were people's auras. Around that time, and for much later after, I knew that there were lots of people in the house (apart from our family) who I could not actually "see", and I used to try and catch them out by hiding behind the bannisters on the staircase and suddenly popping my head over the top. I never did see them - but I knew they were there. I think that what is "matter of fact" for children can so often get drummed out of them by the so-called "real" world as they grow up.

- jeanie