# Aura reading

Source: https://spiritfold.com/Aura_reading  
Published by the Australian Spiritual Alliance on Spiritfold, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

**Aura reading** is the practice of perceiving and interpreting the aura, an emanation said in occult tradition to surround human beings, chiefly around the head. It is described as a cloud of light tinged with various colours, invisible to ordinary eyesight but perceived clairvoyantly. Clairvoyants who claim to see it draw conclusions from its colours about a person's emotional state or character.[1] The word comes from a Greek word for a breeze or breath, and one dictionary notes that mystics, spiritualists and some complementary practitioners regard the aura as the essence of the individual.[2]

In medicine the word *aura* means something quite different: a warning experience, such as shimmering patterns of light or an odd smell, that can come before a migraine or an epileptic seizure. This page is not about that kind of aura.[3]

## Description

### How the aura is described

Theosophical writers describe the aura as made up of many influences blended together in the same space, and divide it into five parts, which they name as the health, vital and karmic auras, the aura of character, and the aura of the spiritual nature. Some of its colours are said to change constantly with a person's feelings, and each colour is given a meaning. In one scheme recorded in the *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*, rose stands for affection, yellow for intellectual activity, blue for religious devotion and purple for spirituality, while brilliant red stands for anger and force.[1]

### Aura photography

Some holistic practitioners photograph what they describe as the aura, using a special camera that reads electrical impulses from the person's hands and produces an image showing bands of colour around the body. The colours are then interpreted.[4] Kirlian photography, which passes an electric current across film with an object placed directly on it, briefly raised scientific interest in the aura in 1970, when many believed it made the aura visible. When experiments carefully controlled the pressure between the film and the object, the striking effects disappeared.[1]

## Scope

### What it includes

- Claimed clairvoyant perception of the aura and interpretation of its colours[1]
- Photographs said to show the aura, interpreted by the practitioner[4]

### What it is not

- It is not the medical "aura" that can come before migraine or epilepsy.[3]
- Aura reading is not a way to diagnose illness. Victoria's Better Health Channel advises anyone worried about their health to see their doctor for diagnosis and treatment rather than seeking a diagnosis from a complementary therapist.[5]

### Research

- In 2004 psychologist Jamie Ward of University College London reported the case of a 19-year-old woman, known as GW, who experiences colours in response to people she knows, their names, and words with emotional meaning, a rare form of synaesthesia (a condition in which stimulating one sense produces a response in another). People appeared to her to have coloured "auras" around them. Ward suggested that such colours are produced in the brain of the person who sees them, rather than being energy given off by others.[6][7]
- A 2012 study compared the accounts of four synaesthetes who see colours in response to human faces and figures with descriptions of the aura in published literature and from esoteric experts. It found differences suggesting the two experiences are not the same, either in how they are experienced or in how people respond to them.[8]
- A 2023 study, posted as a preprint on the Qeios platform, used high-speed light detectors to test whether human skin reflects or gives off light that could account for an aura. Its authors reported that they found no significant evidence that a human aura exists.[9]

## Traditions and lineage

Some writers see the aura in religious art and scripture: the halo or nimbus painted around the heads of saints in Christian art is said to represent it, and medieval saints and mystics distinguished four kinds, the nimbus, the halo, the aureola and the glory. In occult literature the idea is old; Paracelsus wrote of it in the sixteenth century, describing a vital force radiating around a person like a sphere of light.[1]

In 1911 Walter J. Kilner (1847–1920) of St Thomas' Hospital in London published *The Human Atmosphere*. He described viewing people through a screen of coal-tar dye, which he said made three layers of radiation around the body visible, and he drew medical conclusions from changes he saw in them.[1]

Charles Webster Leadbeater, a Theosophist and close associate of Annie Besant, was so impressed by the aura he perceived around the young Jiddu Krishnamurti that he persuaded Besant, who headed the Theosophists' Esoteric Section, that Krishnamurti was the coming World Teacher.[10] The Theosophist Ivah Bergh Whitten later built on Besant's and Leadbeater's ideas about colour in developing a system of occult colour healing.[11]

## Context

### Within Spiritualism

The aura has had a place in Spiritualist practice alongside [mediumship](https://spiritfold.com/Mediumship), though Spiritualists have not all seen it the same way. In the nineteenth century, mediums' healing often included working on the energy "aura" around a patient's body by the laying on of hands.[12] The British medium Harold Sharp developed "auragraphs", a kind of [spirit art](https://spiritfold.com/Spirit_art) meant to show a person's past, present and potential as a medium or clairvoyant sees them.[13] On the other hand, the British Spiritualist healer Harry Edwards doubted that the aura played any part in healing, calling it merely a reflection of a person's state.[14]

### In Australian Spiritualism

In Sydney in the late 1970s, Paul Gillen described seeing auras as a special kind of [clairvoyance](https://spiritfold.com/Clairvoyance). He found that local Spiritualists believed everyone has an aura, visible only to sensitive or spiritually developed people, and widely regarded seeing it as a "high" or "deep" form of mediumship, through which a clairvoyant might read a person's history, thoughts, character and destiny.[15] Gillen also recorded that many of the healers he studied said they diagnosed through the "health aura".[16] This history is one reason the health cautions under Safety and good practice matter. Earlier, Perth's Spiritualist churches of the 1930s offered talks on "Aura Messages", and a 1933 notice for the East Fremantle Spiritual Mission advertised "Messages from Aura and Flowers".[17] Today the Victorian Spiritualists' Union's beginners' course includes a session on "Auras and Chakras",[18] and the New Age Spiritualist Mission in Adelaide lists "aura cleansing" among subjects its teaching may cover.[19]

### A Spiritualist perspective

Spiritualists have long found a place for the aura, though not all in the same way. Some regard reading it as a deep form of clairvoyance; others, like Harry Edwards, have doubted that it plays any real part in healing. A useful question for a student is where the impressions come from. Reading the aura of the living person in front of you is perceiving that person, much as psychic work is, and it is not in itself contact with the spirit world. What a reader perceives in the colours around someone is an impression, offered for what it is worth, not a measurement, and the research on synaesthesia is a reminder that colours can arise in the perceiver's own mind.

The one firm line is health. A Spiritualist teacher would tell students never to diagnose illness from the aura, never to tell someone that a dark patch means something is wrong, and never to suggest that a reading is a reason to put off seeing a doctor. If a person is worried about their health, the caring answer is to encourage them to see their GP. Offered gently and honestly, aura reading speaks to character and feeling, not to the body's ailments.

## Safety and good practice

Victoria's Better Health Channel warns that relying on a complementary therapy alone can delay diagnosis and medical treatment, which in a serious illness such as cancer can lead to serious complications or death. It advises people to see their doctor for diagnosis and to tell their doctor about any complementary therapy they use. It also notes that the complementary therapy industry in Australia is largely self-regulated.[5]

## Related modalities

- [Chakras](https://spiritfold.com/Chakras)
- [Colour therapy](https://spiritfold.com/Colour_therapy)
- [Crystal healing](https://spiritfold.com/Crystal_healing)

## References

1. ["Aura"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/aura). *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*. Gale, via Encyclopedia.com, updated 8 June 2018 (accessed 11 October 2026).
2. "Aura". *The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English*, via [Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/aura) (accessed 12 October 2026).
3. Sears, Tom. ["Aura"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/aura). *The Oxford Companion to the Body*, via Encyclopedia.com, updated 23 May 2018 (accessed 11 October 2026).
4. Ford-Martin, Paula. ["Color therapy"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/medicine/divisions-diagnostics-and-procedures/medicine/color-therapy). *Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine*. Gale, via Encyclopedia.com, updated 8 June 2018 (accessed 11 October 2026).
5. ["Complementary therapies – safety and legal issues"](https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/complementary-therapies-safety-and-legal-issues). Better Health Channel, Department of Health, State Government of Victoria. Last reviewed 28 February 2014. Read from the Internet Archive copy of 21 July 2026, as the live site was under maintenance (accessed 11 October 2026).
6. University College London. ["My favourite aunt is purple: Why some people see 'auras' around their loved ones"](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2004/oct/my-favourite-aunt-purple-why-some-people-see-auras-around-their-loved-ones). UCL News, 18 October 2004. Read from the Internet Archive copy of 11 January 2021 (accessed 11 October 2026).
7. Ward, Jamie. "Emotionally mediated synaesthesia". *Cognitive Neuropsychology* 21, no. 7 (2004): 761–772. [doi:10.1080/02643290342000393](https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290342000393). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/21038232) (accessed 11 October 2026).
8. Milán, E. G., O. Iborra, M. Hochel and others. "Auras in mysticism and synaesthesia: a comparison". *Consciousness and Cognition* 21, no. 1 (2012): 258–268. [doi:10.1016/j.concog.2011.11.010](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2011.11.010). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/22197149) (accessed 11 October 2026).
9. Cheok, A. D. and G. Karolyi. "Instrumentation and High-Speed Photodetector-Based Measurements Reveal Limited Support for the Existence of the Human Aura". Preprint, Qeios, 2023. [doi:10.32388/eb41qy](https://doi.org/10.32388/eb41qy). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/PPR/PPR1013477) (accessed 11 October 2026).
10. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ["Theosophy"](https://www.britannica.com/topic/theosophy). *Encyclopaedia Britannica*. Read from the Internet Archive copy of 14 January 2026 (accessed 11 October 2026).
11. ["Chromotherapy"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/chromotherapy). *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*. Gale, via Encyclopedia.com, updated 8 June 2018 (accessed 11 October 2026).
12. Buescher, John B. ["Spiritualism"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/spiritualism). *Encyclopedia of Religion*, 2nd ed. (Gale, 2005), via Encyclopedia.com (accessed 12 October 2026).
13. Introvigne, Massimo. ["Spiritualism and the Visual Arts"](https://wrldrels.org/2017/08/02/spiritualism-and-the-visual-arts/). World Religions and Spirituality Project, 2 August 2017 (accessed 12 October 2026).
14. Hume, S. ["Harry Edwards"](https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/harry-edwards/). *Psi Encyclopedia*. Society for Psychical Research, last updated 7 September 2026 (accessed 12 October 2026).
15. Gillen, Paul. *[The Spiritualists: Gnosis and Ideology](https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_spiritualists_gnosis_and_ideology/19431146/1)*. PhD thesis, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, 1981, PDF pp. 48–49 (accessed 12 October 2026).
16. Gillen, Paul. *[The Spiritualists: Gnosis and Ideology](https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_spiritualists_gnosis_and_ideology/19431146/1)*. PhD thesis, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, 1981, PDF p. 44 (accessed 12 October 2026).
17. Museum of Perth. ["Isabella Jane Bell (1863–1950)"](https://museumofperth.com.au/isabella-jane-bell). Perth People (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
18. Victorian Spiritualists' Union. ["Courses"](https://www.vsu.org.au/courses) (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
19. New Age Spiritualist Mission Inc. [Home page](https://nasm.org.au/) (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).

## Further reading

- Better Health Channel. ["Complementary therapies – safety and legal issues"](https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/complementary-therapies-safety-and-legal-issues). Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2014.
- *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*. ["Aura"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/aura). Gale, via Encyclopedia.com.
- Milán, E. G. and others. ["Auras in mysticism and synaesthesia: a comparison"](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2011.11.010). *Consciousness and Cognition*, 2012.
- University College London. ["My favourite aunt is purple: Why some people see 'auras' around their loved ones"](https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2004/oct/my-favourite-aunt-purple-why-some-people-see-auras-around-their-loved-ones). UCL News, 2004.
- Ward, Jamie. ["Emotionally mediated synaesthesia"](https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290342000393). *Cognitive Neuropsychology*, 2004.