Unusual Light: what does it mean?

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   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Not sure how to word this...
   
   Has anyone here (or has anyone that you know) seen a sort of silvery swirling light that looks a lot like Harry Potter's Patronus starting to form into a shape?  What is the explanation for it?

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      Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I've had a similar experience three or four times, with several months between each event.
      
      It's hard to describe - a silvery light, swirling and flickering in a moire pattern.  After the last time, I went to my optometrist for a thorough checkup.  He's a university professor, too, and has all the latest gizmos for photographing inside the eye etc.
      
      He told me it's an unusual type of migraine.  No headache, just seeing lights.

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         Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Very interesting!  My mother has said that she has visual migraines, but I've never asked her to describe them (and I occasionally have the headache kind of migraines).  Maybe that was the explanation for the swirls. I'll follow up and check into that possibility.
         
         When yours happened, Marisa, was it in the dark or was there some ambient light also?

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            Marisa Wrightposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It varies.  Once when I was walking around a shopping centre, once working on my computer, and once at night.
            
            The funny thing is, I've never had the headache kind of migraines.

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               IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               I've had this type of migraine and no pain. I see white flashing zigzag lights in front of my eyes. It's especially annoying if I am writing at the time because they get in the way of the screen and I can't read!

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                  Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  migraines don't always come with pain.  They are sometimes in the form of visual disturbances and/or nausea. 
                  
                  My migraines have often resulted in half my field of vision disappearing - fortunately I don't get them much these days - for me they are food chemical & hormone related

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                     Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     
                     The food chemical / hormone connection is something I would like to follow up.  Do you have any specifics about what food(s) would trigger a visual migraine?  I am thinking increasingly that that is a solid explanation for what I heard about.
                     
                     Thanks for the input, Marisa, IzzyM and Baileybear.  And thanks for the comments, earnestshub (and r1 - you too, again ).

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                        Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I did an elimination diet to figure out my sensitivities.  I've written a few hubs about my food sensitivities. The main migraine triggers for me are histamine rich or histamine-producing foods exceeding my rather low threshold, as well as preservatives such as sulfur dioxide (in wine, cordials etc).  My threshold is lowered premenstrually/menstrually, so I am extra careful with food triggers during those times.

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                           Donna Suthardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           msg is considered a trigger, cheese, beer, sugar, salt, wheat, low blood sugar, emotions..too may carbohydrates..brain tumors.

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                              Donna Suthardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              and too much caffiene..Eating a diet, with a protein, and carbohydrate..Read Adele's Davis book on Nutrition....

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2. 79

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   I'm really wanting to know pepole's thoughts about this, because of a supposedly true story I heard recently.  Anyone know about this light?

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   recommend1posted 12 years ago

   There are a huge variety of reasons people see things like swirly lights etc, from smudged contact lenses to lights shining across a well lit room and making areas of brightness where they intersect or the pattern they make on the opposite wall being mis-focussed.  Mostly optical effects start with a minor thing and the imagination makes up the rest.  I guess this is why ghosts and phantoms were seen all the time until bright electric lighting lit up the corners ?

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      Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I recall having coughing fits because allergic to a jasmine plant  - I coughed so hard I 'saw' flashing lights

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   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Thanks for the reply, recommend1.  I wish I knew better how to describe the light I learned about. 
   
   Since I have worn contact lenses in the past, I know (comparing my own experience with the swirly-light experience) that that is not the source - but I also know that there is some possibility of deteriorating vision that could be related to the recent phenomenon.  And, it took place in a dark room at night, so it had nothing to do with light sources intersecting or interfering with one another.
   
   Also it was a one-time thing - not recurring, at least not yet - which is part of the reason why it is such a puzzle.  [A lot of the odd light phenomena that I personally have experienced have happened more than once.]  And it really is a puzzle, without any real or final conclusions having been drawn about it. 
   
   I chose to post this in the "paranormal beliefs" section simply because it was described as looking like the Patronus light in the Harry Potter movies.  And also, I myself have had some really weird experiences lately which I wish I could discuss with someone - but then I would be accused of being even crazier than I am now!       

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      recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I was just pulling my answer to the light thing from the top of my head, there are many things that can physically cause it.  There are also many mental things that can cause it also; we think we see what we are looking at but it has been shown that we do a lot of processing of the images that enter our eyes, so the memory [as in the instant after the event] is a bit like a subconciously photoshopped picture.  Apparently, when we look at familiar stuff we are not looking at the picture we see but the memory of the picture overlaid with the key points of what we are physically seeing.  I could imagine this developing with human beings, the important things in any scene are the things that are moving first and then things that have changed.  We would have needed to be able to see the tiger walking toward us before we worried about the trees and bushes I think?
      
      Some research  suggests that this is how deja vu happens, the two parts of our processor get out of order and we are processing after we see it and so 'remember' two copies of the same 'memory' that is the scene we think we are witnessing new.
      
      Any optical input is suspect, we heavily process the information that enters our eyes.  I have experienced many unexplained phenomena that others tell me are paranormal - but I am [personally] sure they could all be explained, even if I do not know that explanation.

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         Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         That's very interesting.  What you're saying about visual processing is one huge factor (maybe the only one, lol) in Charles Bonnet Syndrome.  I don't think that (CBS) was what was happening with the swirly light, but maybe it was.
         
         I understand and mostly agree with you about explanations for unexplained phenomena.  But where you and I might differ is that I believe that explanations for the currently unexplainable may actually be even weirder than the ones we arrived at first, once we know them! 

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         earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I think this is sound information. I feel confident in saying the current research supports what you have suggested here.
         There is ample opportunity for things to go wrong in the processing of information received through sight.
         Much of that sight takes place in the brain in a very complex and convoluted way.

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            Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            eyes are just a detector - the brain is really what does the 'seeing'

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               earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               That's what I would have said if I was as smart as you are with words.

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                  Baileybearposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  thanks for the compliment

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                     earnestshubposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     You are welcome.

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   MPChrisposted 12 years ago

   Not sure what the Harry Potter reference is, but if you are talking about the mysterious spirals seen over Norway in 2010, the Russian Military claimed they were testing a missile system, which had been a dramatic failure.

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   kittythedreamerposted 12 years ago

   How often do you see them and in what type of environment? Are you relaxed or busy?

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7. 79

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Hi, kittythedreamer -  Thanks for reviving this thread!  Other people may be interested in the subject too.
   
   The event I described was a one-time event for the woman who told me about it - that is, one time so far.  She was lying down to sleep at night and the room was dark, but with a little bit of outside light streaming in.
   
   Based on the earlier responses from Marisa Wright, IzzyM and Baileybear, I believe she was suffering a visual migraine, and I have passed that information along as well as the information from Donna Suthard about food triggers.  I even mentioned the (other) brain issues that rec1 and earnest discussed.
   
   @MPChris - sorry that I missed your post!  The Harry Potter reference had to do with the way the light was described:
   
   If you have seen the Harry Potter movies, the reference makes more sense.
      

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