Aura: layers, colours and how to see it

What is an aura?

The word "aura" comes from the Greek and Latin aura, "breeze, breath". In the esoteric traditions, the aura is a field of light and energy that surrounds every living being. It is described as a coloured, shifting glow around the body in which, it is believed, a person's thoughts, feelings, state of health and spiritual maturity are reflected. Clairvoyants say they see the aura with their eyes; others sense it with their hands, as warmth, or as a mood when someone comes near.

Many schools treat the aura not as a separate "cloud" but as part of the subtle body. The physical body is the densest layer, and around it, like concentric shells, lie ever finer energy bodies. They are fed by the life force that India calls prana, China calls qi, and Western esotericism simply calls vital energy.

Today the aura is talked about on three levels. First, the radiance of saints and the subtle bodies of the ancient traditions. Second, the esoteric teachers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, who described the aura in layers and colours. Third, modern practice: aura reading, aura cleansing and aura photography.

The aura in ancient traditions and art

Light around a holy person is one of the oldest symbols in religious art. Before it was called an "aura", it was a nimbus, a halo or a mandorla, and almost every great tradition painted it in its own way.

The yoga tradition describes the aura through five sheaths (kośa), set out in the Taittiriya Upanishad: the food (physical) body, the vital-energy body, the mind body, the wisdom body and the bliss body. Each finer sheath envelops the denser one, and at the centre of them all lies the true Self. This model later became the basis of the layered aura in Western esotericism.

What esoteric teachers taught about the aura

The modern idea of the aura was shaped in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by a handful of researchers and teachers. Each added a piece: some observed the glow, others described it in colours, still others tried to capture it with instruments.

The seven layers of the aura

The most popular modern model of the aura, developed by Barbara Brennan and other energy-healing schools, divides it into seven layers. Each is linked to one of the seven chakras and to one area of human life. The layers run outwards from the body: the further out, the finer.

Different schools name the layers slightly differently, and the Theosophists spoke of etheric, astral, mental and causal bodies. But all agree on one thing: the aura is not fixed. It breathes, expands and contracts together with a person's state.

Aura colours and what they mean

Aura colours are the most popular topic for anyone interested in the aura. In modern esotericism each colour has its own meaning: bright, clear shades are read as strengths, dark and muddy ones as stagnant energy. These are the meanings aura readers mention most often.

Aura readers stress that an aura is almost never a single colour. Usually there is one main "personality" colour that stays similar for a long time, and several fast-changing ones that show the mood or thoughts of the day.

How to see your own aura

Many teachers say anyone can see the aura; the eyes just need training. Most people start with the etheric layer, a narrow, pale, sometimes bluish band right next to the body. Here is the classic practice:

Some people do not see the aura but feel it. Rub your palms together, then slowly draw them apart and bring them close again. Many feel warmth, tingling or something like an elastic ball between the palms. Energy-healing schools begin teaching aura sensing with this exercise.

Aura size, shape and signs of strength

Aura readers usually describe the aura as an egg-shaped shell, widest around the head and shoulders and narrower at the feet. Normally, they say, it extends about an arm's length from the body, but it can grow to several metres when a person is joyful, praying or speaking to a large audience, and shrink close to the body when they are tired, frightened or unwell.

Energy-healing schools name several signs by which an aura is considered strong or weak:

• A strong aura. Even, bright, with clear colours and no gaps. People feel calm and safe near such a person, who also recovers quickly after stress.
• A depleted aura. Narrow, dull, pressed close to the body. The person feels as if they have "no skin", tires quickly in crowds and picks up other people's moods.
• "Holes" and tears in the aura. Some healers describe dark patches or gaps which, they say, appear after shocks, long stress or addictions.
• Cords of attachment. Energy practices speak of threads that link people's auras after strong relationships and that can be released through rituals of forgiveness.

How to sense another person's aura

Students of Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and other energy-healing schools are first taught to sense the aura with their hands. The person sits or lies quietly while the practitioner slowly moves relaxed palms a few dozen centimetres from their body, from the head towards the feet. Many notice places where the air feels denser, warmer, cooler or tingling. According to teachers, this is how areas of uneven energy flow are found.

The most important rule, repeated by every school: before working with another person's aura, even without touching the body, ask for their permission. The aura is considered personal space, so respect for it is part of the practice.

What, according to the traditions, affects the aura

Esoteric schools agree that the aura is constantly changing. Some things widen and brighten it; others narrow and darken it.

• Thoughts and feelings. The Theosophists taught that every strong thought or emotion leaves a colour in the aura. Anger, they said, colours it with dark red flashes, love with a soft pink.
• Breath and movement. The yoga and qigong traditions say that free breathing and movement let prana flow, so the aura becomes brighter.
• Nature. Forests, water and sunlight are considered the strongest natural cleansers of the aura.
• People and places. Long periods in tense surroundings or near people who constantly complain, practitioners say, "weigh down" the aura.
• Sleep and food. Many teachers link a bright aura with rest and moderate, fresh food.

How to cleanse and protect your aura

Cleansing and protecting the aura is one of the oldest practices in the world. Different cultures do it differently, but the idea is the same: remove what has clung on and strengthen your own light.

Smoke

In many cultures people and rooms are smoked with dried plants. North American Indigenous traditions burn sage, sweetgrass or cedar; South America uses palo santo wood; Europe has juniper and wormwood. The smoke is slowly passed around the outline of the body from head to feet, with the inner request to release what is no longer needed.

Salt and water

In many traditions salt is considered a cleansing substance. A warm bath with a handful of sea salt, washing the hands in salted water, or simply a shower with the intention of rinsing off the day's tension are the simplest ways to cleanse the aura.

Sound

Singing bowls, bells, gongs and mantras are used so that sound vibration "shakes loose" stagnant energy. Practitioners ring a bowl around the body or simply listen to clear tones. You can find such tones in the solfeggio frequencies generator.

Visualising light

Sit quietly and imagine a white or golden light opening above your head. It flows down through the whole body and spreads around it until you are wrapped in a glowing, egg-shaped shell. Many schools practise this every morning as protection for the day.

Breath and meditation

Calm, deep breathing and attention to the body, teachers say, put the aura in order from within. A body scan meditation lets you move your attention through the whole body and notice where you feel tension or emptiness.