According to spiritual beliefs, an aura or energy field is a colored glow believed to surround a human body, animals, or objects. Some spiritual traditions describe the aura as a type of invisible body. People who claim to see auras, such as psychics and those who practice holistic medicine, say they can observe the size, color, and type of energy in an aura.

In spiritual alternative medicine, the human aura is thought to be part of an unseen body structure that shows a person's overall health and well-being. This structure is sometimes said to include special energy centers called chakras. These ideas are not supported by scientific research and are classified as pseudoscience. When tested in scientific experiments, the ability to see auras has not been proven to exist.

Etymology

In Latin and Ancient Greek, the word "aura" means wind, breeze, or breath. In Middle English, it was used to describe a gentle breeze. By the late 1800s, some spiritualist groups began using the term to refer to a believed subtle energy surrounding the human body.

History

Charles Webster Leadbeater, a former priest in the Church of England and a member of the mystical Theosophical Society, first introduced the idea of auras to the public. He studied theosophy in India and believed he could use his special ability to see things others could not to make scientific observations. Leadbeater claimed that most men originated from Mars, while more advanced men came from the Moon. He also said that hydrogen atoms were made up of six parts inside an egg-like shape. In his 1903 book Man Visible and Invisible, he described the human aura at different stages of moral development, from the "savage" to the saint. In 1910, he introduced the modern idea of auras in his book The Inner Life by combining the Tantric concept of chakras with his own ideas. He did not simply share Tantric beliefs; he changed and added to them. Some of his changes included describing chakras as areas where energy moves quickly and linking each chakra to a gland, an organ, or other body parts.

Later, other theosophists, such as Rudolf Steiner and Edgar Cayce, adopted and changed Leadbeater's ideas about auras and chakras. However, these ideas were not widely known in spiritual circles until the 1980s, when the New Age movement began to use them. In 1977, Christopher Hills, an American spiritual writer, published Nuclear Evolution: The Rainbow Body, which presented a new version of Leadbeater's ideas. Unlike Leadbeater, who drew chakras with detailed shapes and many colors, Hills showed them as a series of centers, each linked to a color of the rainbow. Many New Age writers later based their descriptions of auras on Hills' version of Leadbeater's work.

During the 1980s and 1990s, chakras became more common in mainstream spiritual discussions. New Age practices, such as crystal healing and aura-soma, were developed to help clear blockages in chakras. By the late 1990s, chakras were less connected to their original theosophical and Hindu roots and more influenced by New Age ideas. Many New Age books suggested different links between chakras and colors, personality traits, illnesses, and Christian sacraments. Holistic healing practices in the New Age movement often claim to use techniques like bioenergetic analysis, spiritual energy, and energy medicine to study auras.

Auric energy

In yoga, people try to focus on or improve their "auric energy field." This idea is part of spiritual beliefs and relates to ideas about the unseen world. Some individuals believe that the aura, which is thought to surround a person, carries their soul after they pass away.

Aura photography

Many attempts have been made to capture an energy field around the human body, starting with photographs taken by French doctor Hippolyte Baraduc in the 1890s. People sometimes thought these images showed supernatural things, but scientists later explained that natural causes, like heat from the body, created the glowing effects seen in infrared photography.

In 1939, Semyon Davidovich Kirlian found that placing an object or body part on photographic paper and using high voltage electricity produced images of a glowing outline around the object. This method became known as Kirlian photography. Some researchers, like Thelma Moss from UCLA, suggested these images might show psychic abilities or energy. However, experiments showed that the Kirlian effect happens because moisture on the object interacts with electricity. When an object is wet, electricity creates a gas around it, changing the electric charge pattern on the film. After many tests, no evidence of mysterious or unexplained processes was found in Kirlian photography.

In 1992, Guy Coggins introduced Aura Imaging cameras and software to capture auras. He claimed the software used biofeedback data to color images of people. However, this technique has not produced results that can be consistently repeated.

Tests

Tests to see if people can see auras have often failed. In one test, people were placed in a dark room, and a psychic was asked to say how many auras she could see. The results were no better than random guessing.

On television, aura readers have sometimes been tested. One test had an aura reader stand on one side of a room, with a solid wall separating her from several slots. These slots might have held real people or mannequins. The reader could not correctly identify which slots had people and said all contained people.

In another televised test, an aura reader claimed he could see auras from behind a partition where five people stood. When each person moved out, the reader was asked to say where that person had been standing. He correctly identified two out of five people.

Scientific efforts to prove auras exist have not succeeded. For example, people cannot see auras in complete darkness, and auras have not been used to identify people when their features are hidden in controlled tests. A 1999 study found that normal body signals, like heat, might be mistaken for signs of spiritual or supernatural events.

Scientific explanation

Psychologist Andrew Neher has written that "there is no good evidence to support the idea that auras are, in any way, related to psychic abilities."

Some people have suggested that auras may be connected to synaesthesia, a condition where senses are experienced differently. However, a 2012 study found no connection between auras and synaesthesia. The study concluded that "the differences found suggest that both experiences are different in how they are felt and how they affect behavior." Clinical neurologist Steven Novella has written: "Based on the evidence, it seems that the link between auras and synaesthesia is based on guesses and not real proof, as the similarities are likely accidental."

Bridgette Perez, in a review for the Skeptical Inquirer, wrote: "Changes in how people see or feel things, such as illusions or hallucinations, might lead some to believe in auras. Psychological traits, such as being easily absorbed in experiences, having a strong imagination, or seeing vivid images, might also explain the appearance of auras."

Scientists have repeatedly concluded that the ability to see auras does not actually exist.