I had my first migraine in 20 years last night. The aura was intense. Straight ahead, my right eye vision looked pixelated, as though I was looking through extremely tiny transparent squares. Simultaneously, peripheral vision on my right side was framed by a thin twisting column of multiple bright colors. This really surprised me because there are no cones in peripheral vision, only rods. I was wary when the aura first manifested because of the possibility that this might be a retinal issue. But 15 minutes later the light show was over and the headache began. A long time ago I had a number of these migraines, but never with such an intense aura. My siblings also have migraines--it runs in the family - - - Auras are natures way of saying "I'm going to entertain you with a pretty light show before putting your head in a vise."