Aura (paranormal)
In New Age belief, Aura refers to the energy field emanating from the surface of a person or object. This emanation is visualized as an outline of cascading color and may be held to represent soul vibrations, chakric emergence, or a reflection of surrounding energy fields. Auras may be viewed by the naked eye, though some psychics, like Edgar Cayce, believe this ability weakens with age. Focused training may improve one's ability to see auras. Layers of aura are separate and distinct yet connected to all the remaining layers. In the books of Carlos Castaneda auras are referred to as luminous cocoons.
Science and Auras
Modern New Age metaphysics identify the aura as electromagnetic fields. The existence of electromagnetic fields around every object in the known world is a scientifically proven fact. What is debatable is whether or not humans can see these electromagnetic fields as colors with the naked eye. This claim enters the paranormal field. The reason this happens is that very sophisticated equipment exists, far more sensitive and precise than the human eye, that is actually able to pick up energy many times less than that which is supposed to exist in auras, yet none was ever recorded.
However, these energy fields are sometimes claimed to be documented by a rare form of photography called Kirlian photography. These claims are vigorously denied by debunkers about paranormal activity. The magician James Randi, for example, has for many years (as of 2004) offered one million US dollars to any person capable of repeatedly detecting auras, no one has yet succeeded, (though at least one has tried and failed). The test would involve the aura reader standing on one side of a room with an opaque partition separating them from a number of slots which may contain either actual people or mannequins. All that would have to be done is that the aura reader would have to consistently be able to tell which were real people and which were not.
The meanings of the Aura
The aura of a person is sometimes considered to be a way to read one's thoughts and to identify a liar when his words contradict the messages his aura says. While some think the contrary, some claim that there is no way to change one's aura, and that it is considered to be a universal spiritual signature. Only through conscious control can the aura be used to i)identify a malfunction of the body ii)heal oneself and according to certain people iii)change how one is perceived by the surrounding. The emanating colors of the aura sometimes are tied to special or hidden meanings. Some claim that the seven colors comprising the aura that emanate from the surface of the object are mystically tied to many other things, like the planets, days of the week, and the musical notes. The aura is also sometimes told to have more than seven colors. There is no agreement on what the colours correspond to, making it impossible to prove there is any correlation between specific colors and specific diseases. Each reader sees something different.
Synesthesia as a phenomenon was tied to auras because the stimuli to one sense may generate a response to another sense, in this case the stimuli of another sense to generate a visual response, like a color, to the one who experiences synesthesia.
Pereceiving Auras
Some people will see Auras as the result of a migraine, epilepsy, a visual system disorder or a brain disorder. Also eye fatigue and perception can produce an effect similar to the claimed aura
References
- Brennan, Barbara, Hands of Light : A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field, Bantam, 1988, ISBN 0553345397.
- Brennan, Barbara, Light Emerging : The Journey of Personal Healing, Bantam, 1993, ISBN 0553354566.
- Cayce, Edgar, Auras, ARE Press, 2002, ISBN 0876040121.
- Kilner, Walter J., The Human Aura, Citadel Press, 1965, ISBN 0806505451.
- Krippner, Stanley and Rubin, Daniel, The Kirlian Aura: Photographing the Galaxies of Life, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1974, ISBN 0385065744.
- Larson, Cynthia Sue, Aura Advantage, Adams Media, 2004, ISBN 1580629458.
- Leadbeater, C.W., The Chakras, Theosophical Publishing House, 1987, ISBN 0835604225.