We are probably all familiar with the concept of a Halo, All saints have them, and Jesus had one, as did Mary.

[img]http://www.angel-images.bigstep.com/Images/Mary%20the%20Saint.jpg[/img]

But what is a halo? Other than showing that someone is saintly, what does it represent? Anyone know?

I think it has to do with the way art was done. Of course, they didn't really exist on top of the holy head's of saints. I don't really know. But if you want an answer, then look at early forms of Christian influenced art. Hmmm.... interesting question.

actually a long time before christ people were using halos in their art to show divinity. theres even some very old rock paintings that have rainbows around a hunter god's head.
its like a symbol that means inner light shining out. a very old symbol, and its really the symbol of a metaphor. i wonder if the idea of chakras comes from the same place because the whole 'inner light' and 'shining light of truth', ect seems to be a pretty common theme in all these different old religous traditions.
in a lot of old pagan art it surrounds the whole body of different gods and demigods, sometimes just the head. later on, even the roman emperor got one. after that tho, people stopped using it untill about the 3rd century the christians picked it up. first it was just Jesus that had one, then by the 5th century angels and saints got them. it was used as a very stylized backlighting effect with rules: jesus, angels and dead saints had round ones, but living people who were saintly got rectangular ones.
around the same time the buddhist art was really gettin goin in india, china, tibet, all over. the nepalese put a halo on the buddha, the tibetens and the chinese did too, and by the 7th century there was haloed buddhas and bhodisatvas everwhere, round halos and flame-shaped ones
its gotten more and more stylized over the years so now its like a neon ring that floats over your head, but it still means the same thing.
ive heard of living people supposedly had halos of light shining around them, and ive heard about old people who seemed to have light shining around or maybe out of them just before they died, but i never seen this for myself.

Slightly off-topic but interesting:-

The "halo" effect
   If this theory of radiogenic metabolism is correct, in that, high-energy gamma photons are being "digested" and utilized as an ongoing energy source by human cells, then there should be some identifiable "by-product" of the metabolism in the form of low-energy photon emissions. In fact, modern opto-electronic devices, such as single photon counters, are increasingly being used to detect just such occurrences.  These emissions cover a broad spectral region from ultraviolet to near infrared, e.g., 200 to 900 nanometers.  Researchers have noted that the photon-flux intensity of stationary luminescence averages between 10 to 1,000 hv/second/centimeter and strongly depends on the physiological state of the organism (Slawinski, 1987).  
   Other research has found that living systems emit electromagnetic radiation in a longer part of the spectrum, e.g., infrared or thermal radiation and radio waves.  Brain, heart, and muscle activity reportedly elicit changes of electrical potential of about 0.1 volt with frequencies in the range of 0.5 - 3.0 hertz and 20 - 5,000 hertz respectively (Slawinski, 1987).  These electromagnetic interactions extend beyond the parameters of the physical body to form a low-frequency field or "aura."  

    Recently published work by Dr. Fritz-Albert Popp of the International Institute of Biophysics in Germany further supports the hypothesis that low-energy biophotons emanate from human beings.  In a long-term study, Popp demonstrated that photon emissions from each of the skin areas tested followed the same biological rhythms but were phase-shifted between various body parts, e.g., hands versus forehead.  Popp also demonstrated that normal patterns are disrupted in people suffering from various illnesses and diseases (Cohen and Popp, 1997).
   Given that gamma rays disappear around subjects receiving certain bioenergy therapies, there is reason to speculate that the crystal-like formations within the body, from mitochondrial DNA to connective tissues, may act as organic scintillators.  The general description of a scintillator is a material that emits low-energy (usually in the visible range) photons when struck by a high-energy charged particle (Science News, 1996). When used as a gamma ray detector, the scintillator does not directly detect the gamma rays. Instead, the gamma rays produce charged particles in the scintillator crystals that interact with the crystal and emit photons. These lower energy photons are subsequently collected by photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) such as the one used in the previously described gamma radiation experiments.  Ordinarily, materials transform ionizing energy into heat. Rather than radiate away all their energy as heat, however, scintillators transform some of this energy so that they glow with light.    

     The efficiency of a scintillator is determined by the extent to which light is produced versus heat, such that, a more efficient crystal scintillator, like sodium iodide, may produce about 13% of the gamma interactions in the form of light energy compared with other crystals, like  bismuth germinate used to create PET scans, which may translate only 2% of the gamma radiation into light (Kahn, 1994).  
   If this theory is correct, then the crystalline formations and/or certain molecules within the body may be acting as collecting and/or processing points of gamma radiation which, in turn, produce some proportion of visible light versus heat.  The degraded energetic by-product is eliminated from the body similar to the digestive process of food stuffs; however, the output point may be in the crown region. This would equate with basic physiology that teaches that the majority of the body's heat radiates from the top of the head.  
   Subsequently, the "halo" epiphenomenon may be explained by a preponderance of visible biophotons being emitted from the crown/top of the head and may coincide with one's capacity, as a crystal scintillator, to efficiently process the absorbed gamma radiation into light versus heat.           It is most likely not a coincidence that religious archetypes describe "hell" in terms of high heat and fire, e.g., burning in hell, and "heaven" as the domain of pure light.  Likewise, "saints" are enlightened, whereas, "sinners" are enmeshed in darkness.  
FROM http://newvistas.homestead.com/Pursuit3.html
Also take a look at http://www.clevelandart.org/exhibit/nara/bato.html

Earliest ref and pic I can find is http://home.nyc.rr.com/demojr/Ikons.htm
Best regards, Bill
[using GOOGLE]

Excellent, thanks guys, i like the way you're thinking

This was something of a loaded question as i was thinking along the same lines as you and wanted to see what others thought before coming out with it.

I feel the Halo, represented particularly well in the image Bill gave a reference to, is a mark of expanded consciousness.

[img]http://home.nyc.rr.com/demojr/ikonostasis.jpg[/img]

I believe I have experienced what I would call expanded consciousness, and if I were to visualise the way I felt, it would look like a I were wearing a mushroom shaped hat at 45 degrees from the horizontal.

This could easily be seen as a halo if I described it to an artist!

I find it very interesting that there is some scientific evidence of auras and halos, yet another religion/science cross over

This is what I found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo



In Christian sacred art (Eastern and Western churches), holy persons (saints) are depicted with a halo, a golden, yellow or white circular glow, around the head. It is sometimes called a nimbus as well. See iconography.

The halo appears in the art of ancient Greece and Rome, and was incorporated into Christian art sometime in the 4th century. Round halos are used to signify saints. A cross within a halo is used to represent Christ. Triangular halos are used for representations of the Trinity. Square halo are used to depict unusually saintly living personages.

In popular piety, this practice has led to the belief that saints during their earthly life actually walked around with a halo around their head. Of the many wonderful stories about saints, some report that a saint was literally glowing. This is called the aureole, a lemon-drop-shaped item that appears to radiate from the entire body of the holy being. Finally, there is also "glory," a glowing effusion used to cover up depictions of genitalia.

The halo underwent an interesting transformation during the Renaissance. Originally, the halo represented a glow of sanctity emanating from the head. Since it was conventionally drawn as a circle, during the Renaissance, when perspective became more important in art, the halo was changed from an aura surrounding the head to a golden ring that appeared in perspective, mysteriously floating above the heads of the saints.


I thought it was interesting how it was originally intended to be represented as an aura, but was changed to the ring we know today