From:	MC23 <mc23@**********.COM>
Subject:	Light & The Astral Plane (was Re: 1/2 way inside a ward)
Date:	Thu, 24 Apr 1997 12:30:23 -0400

Faux Pas (Thomas) once dared to write,

>Yes I do, and no, it's not wrong.

ARGH!!! You remember snippets but not everything!

>Up in the fortieth floor of a building? Where nobody is working, with no
>windows? No plants, no living things in an enclosed room? No living
>things means no auras; no auras mean no astral light source; no astral
>light source means no illumination for the astral plane.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
Wrong! Wrong!

SR2 p145 "astral space is usually bright no matter the time of day"
and "inanimate objects are visible because of reflected light". Now where
you got confused was when they said "certain places, however, that are
devoid or lacking in living material (within a bare concrete room, for
example) may actually be dim or dark, imposing visibility modifiers". So
if your 40th floor example was a barren quarantined darkroom with an
artificially maintained environment that has been deserted for a while
then you might reach that darkness you are talking about.
>
>The auras of living things illuminate the astral plane - in this extreme
>case, the only thing that casts any illumination is the aura of the astral
>mage. The astrally projecting magician has separated his aura from his
>body. There is no aura at his body, so the mage cannot see his body.

Your's was not an extreme case. The mage would have to be cut off
from all light sources and Earth's biosphere and all emotional residues
of being lived in for what you are talking about.

>A computer can be illuminated by another light source. Your computer's
>case at home doesn't give off any light, but you can see it, right?
>There's a light source that allows you to see it.

And allow an astral mage to see it as well.

>Generally, the light source that an astrally projecting magician would use
>is his own aura. It's like you're the light bulb or the lamp. Now, how
>bright you happen to be (no intelligence jokes, please), would determine
>how far you can see. That's why you could see a computer in astral if you
>were in an astrally dark room like I described.

Nope, generally the light source the mage would use is a light
source or that of the astral plane itself. The room you described might
be dim but not dark. I hope this clears up your misunderstanding on how
light on the astral plane works.


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more so and they were guarded very closely. To protect themselves, they
answered to another name, because if another discovered their real name,
it could be used against them.
History repeats itself.
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I am MC23