One of the many variations of the screensaver
Angelicus is a screensaver I wrote back in 2000. It’s a free-flowing, multi-colour plasma kaleidoscope. Even after all this time, I still find it mesmerising – but maybe that’s just me. It marks a period in my life where I was deeply fascinated by kaleidoscopes. I spent a great deal of my spare time in those days inventing new kaleidoscopes – the best of which was a large projector kaleidoscope, capable of displaying a huge 5m x 5m image on my neighbour’s roof. It was a fun time, and this screensaver brings back some of those happy, creative memories.
Since it is an old app, the saver defaults to 640×480. I suggest heading straight to your graphic display properties/screensaver screen and configuring Angelicus via the settings button first. Since this is a meditation aid you need to give it a bit of time before you start to see the variety it can come up with. It moves at a slower pace than most things you’ll find on the hectic net these days!
This is the original accompanying blurb:
Angelicus is an open-eyed meditation aid.
Suggested use:
Make yourself comfortable and gently gaze at the centre of the symmetric image. Throughout the exercise, always rest your attention on this point. From this position, gradually draw your awareness “back” and “out”. To do this, you may like to imagine that your chair is travelling backwards, expanding the field of view in front of you. An indicator that you have successfully done this occurs when the coloured images on screen appear to acquire extra depth, whilst your surrounds seem to become flattened, or two-dimensional.
Don’t worry if this doesn’t occur immediately. Just relax and let yourself flow with the changing imagery.
Gradually become aware of the continuity between all points in your field of vision. Notice that distinction between different objects may now be surrendered, or released. There are no separate objects in this place. There are not even names to label, to create, distinctions. Instead, all is one – fluid and alive. If you find this place, rest in it as long as you feel comfortable.
You may like to experiment with different meditative music tracks played alongside Angelicus.
System Requirements
• 400 Mhz CPU
• 256 MB RAM
• 4 MB video card
• Direct X 7.0 or higher
• 5 Mb of disk space
On a Windows PC.
Controls
• F1 – CPU Saver. If you are worried about CPU utilisation, or want to save power, ensure this is on.
• F2 – Frame Rate. This readout also displays information about other Angelicus state settings.
• F3 – Vsync
• F4 – Complex Plasma
Angelicus Uses