Born with a Veil

[Juwana]

Hi i came across an article from aug 06' but no one ever really answered the question and nothing i could really find on google. i was born with a veil. i have a lot of de ja vu's that come true. dont dream about the future though. often times my dreams are from relatives who have died. and my grandmother generally hits the lottery when i tell them to her. but she is old southern and has often said i was born with a veil the way she makes it seem reminds me of the movie/sitcom "V" with the lizards. but i just wanted to know if there was something about me i often feel at times there is that i could maybe tap into or enhance in the psychic realm. and i guess my sign the Cancer is supposed to play a part if you let others tell it as well. just wondering. thanks for your time.

[MollFlanders]

Hi i came across an article from aug 06' but no one ever really answered the question and nothing i could really find on google. i was born with a veil. i have a lot of de ja vu's that come true. dont dream about the future though. often times my dreams are from relatives who have died. and my grandmother generally hits the lottery when i tell them to her. but she is old southern and has often said i was born with a veil the way she makes it seem reminds me of the movie/sitcom "V" with the lizards. but i just wanted to know if there was something about me i often feel at times there is that i could maybe tap into or enhance in the psychic realm. and i guess my sign the Cancer is supposed to play a part if you let others tell it as well. just wondering. thanks for your time.

Hi,

I just cut and pasted this from Wicapeadia....hope it helps.

To be "born in the caul" simply means a child is born with the amnion, or amniotic sac intact around a newborn's body. The amniotic sac (also known as the bag of waters) separates from the membranes of the uterus in this case, and balloons out of the mother's vagina, covering the baby's face and body as he or she emerges from the vagina. The baby is in no danger of drowning, since he or she will not take a breath until his or her face is out of the fluid which is also still contained in the caul. Even if the newborn does gasp as he or she emerges, as long as the placenta is still intact inside the mother, she will be getting oxygen from that. Even so, most people in the medical field feel that allowing babies to be born in the caul is dangerous, and prefer to break the bag of waters if it doesn't rupture spontaneously, at some point during labor. The caul is harmless and is easily removed by the doctor, midwife, or person(s) attending the childbirth. A child born in this way is known as a caulbearer.

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, medterms.com[1], and Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary describe a caul as a piece of amnion that sometimes envelops a child's head at birth. To be "born in a caul" is to be born with the head covered by the amnion or within an intact unruptured amniotic sac. According to healthlink.mcw.edu[2], Dwight Cruikshank MD, Professor and Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin states that being born with or in a caul is rare, probably occurring in fewer than 1 in 1000 births, and that he has seen fewer than 10 babies with a caul over the life of his career. He says that it is usually present only in premature babies. Midwives are more likely to allow babies to be born in the caul, as they perceive birth as a natural and safe event, and know that the baby is likely to be calm and not gasp for breath until the caul is removed, especially in a biodynamic birth. Some midwives believe allowing children to be born in the caul has spiritual significance; others simply think nature should be allowed to unfold as necessary.

[edit] Legend

In medieval times the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck. It was considered an omen that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an heirloom. Other medieval European traditions linked being born with the caul to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.[1]

Over the course of European history, a popular legend developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would give its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by sailors. Medieval women often sold these cauls to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable talisman.

I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas. Whether sea-going people were short of money about that time, or were short of faith and preferred cork jackets, I don't know; all I know is, that there was but one solitary bidding, and that was from an attorney connected with the bill-broking business, who offered two pounds in cash, and the balance in sherry, but declined to be guaranteed from drowning on any higher bargain. Consequently the advertisement was withdrawn at a dead loss ... and ten years afterwards, the caul was put up in a raffle down in our part of the country, to fifty members at half-a-crown a head, the winner to spend five shillings. I was present myself, and I remember to have felt quite uncomfortable and confused, at a part of myself being disposed of in that way. The caul was won, I recollect, by an old lady with a hand-basket.... It is a fact which will be long remembered as remarkable down there, that she was never drowned, but died triumphantly in bed, at ninety-two. (Charles Dickens, David Copperfield)

In the film Oscar and Lucinda, Oscar is presented, by his estranged father, with the caul that was upon his head at birth. Oscar has a phobia of the ocean and of water in general, linked to the death of his mother when he was a child. He carries this caul with him until he dies, ironically, by drowning.

Other legends also developed. One popular legend went that a caulbearer would be able to see the future or have dreams that come to pass.

Negative associations with the birth caul are rare, but in several European countries a child being born with a caul was a sign that the child may become a vampire. As a preventative measure, the caul was removed before the child was able to eat any of it, and then it was destroyed.

The most common portent of good luck in recent centuries is that the baby born with a caul will never drown, the second most common myth is from Scotland and that believes the child will be fey, or psychic. Another British meaning is that the child will travel its entire life and never tire.

Also an important myth hails from ancient Egypt, and that story claims the newborn baby is destined for the cult of Isis, again a mystically inclined fate.

Also if twins are both born with cauls it meant that they are marked by a demon and their souls are already damned.

[edit] Woodworking

[Regency]

I seem to recall in Cornish folklore, that they were sold to sailors to keep them safe? The cauls were considered lucky I believe.

Out of curiosity, did you keep it? There's one at the Witchcraft Museum at Boscastle.

[Rosewin]

Great topic. The old legends are quite interesting to hear.

[rassy]

I read in books a long time ago that someone born with a veil, or caul, depicts that they may have the gift of second site. I don't recall what kind of books I found this information in, so I have no idea if the information is deemed real or if it was from some fictional novels I was reading.

[John from Lowell]

I read in books a long time ago that someone born with a veil, or caul, depicts that they may have the gift of second site. I don't recall what kind of books I found this information in, so I have no idea if the information is deemed real or if it was from some fictional novels I was reading.

I tend to think we are all born with a veil. I see it as a real dis-connect with the expanded 6th sense and our other 5 senses.

Some are conscious of the dis-connect and some do not even recognize anything beyond the 5 senses.

As I see it, the veil hides our conscious awareness reguarding the energy beings that we truly are. When we choose to become human, we want to live in a perceptual reality that does not incorporate our full potentials. The task for some of the conscious humans is to find a connection to the greater being that we are. The task for all the conscious humans is to experience the perceived reality as the only reality and digest the emotional context of the experience for the value that it has to the greater self and the collective community of greater selves.

What many are experiencing these days is a thinning of the veil. They are sensing a reality beyond their 5 senses.

John

[WARRIOR FOR THE LIGHT]

I tend to think we are all born with a veil. I see it as a real dis-connect with the expanded 6th sense and our other 5 senses.

What many are experiencing these days is a thinning of the veil. They are sensing a reality beyond their 5 senses.

John

I tend to agree with you,,, We are in the days when this is becoming a more common things as was predicted back from the bible etc.

[Mademoiselle]

I tend to think we are all born with a veil. I see it as a real dis-connect with the expanded 6th sense and our other 5 senses.

Some are conscious of the dis-connect and some do not even recognize anything beyond the 5 senses.

As I see it, the veil hides our conscious awareness reguarding the energy beings that we truly are. When we choose to become human, we want to live in a perceptual reality that does not incorporate our full potentials. The task for some of the conscious humans is to find a connection to the greater being that we are. The task for all the conscious humans is to experience the perceived reality as the only reality and digest the emotional context of the experience for the value that it has to the greater self and the collective community of greater selves.

What many are experiencing these days is a thinning of the veil. They are sensing a reality beyond their 5 senses.

John

I think you gave us an accurate interpretation . I would say i believe you are right .

[1.618]

From beyond the veil. I always though it meant the land of faerie.

[bornwithaveil]

Hi i came across an article from aug 06' but no one ever really answered the question and nothing i could really find on google. i was born with a veil. i have a lot of de ja vu's that come true. dont dream about the future though. often times my dreams are from relatives who have died. and my grandmother generally hits the lottery when i tell them to her. but she is old southern and has often said i was born with a veil the way she makes it seem reminds me of the movie/sitcom "V" with the lizards. but i just wanted to know if there was something about me i often feel at times there is that i could maybe tap into or enhance in the psychic realm. and i guess my sign the Cancer is supposed to play a part if you let others tell it as well. just wondering. thanks for your time.

I WAS BORN WITH A VEIL, I have my "caul", what would you like to know? First off MOST of the things you read from wiki and the rest is FALSE information...I'm 70 years old so not going to tell everything in this forum. But the way that MY pediatrician explained my birth to me, I feel, is the correct way, I WAS THERE, HE WAS THERE, MY MOTHER WAS THERE...oh, she too born with a veil, I have my veil, and here's another thing, mine is a FULL veil, and all the superstitions, myths, legends, not all true, but mostly true plus so much more. I will be "unveiling", no pun intended, my little jar with my veil in on my 70th birthday...LUCK TO ALL