The Light That Lives Around You
So, every living being glows.
Not always visibly (at least not at first) but subtly, quietly, continuously.
This glow is your aura. It’s the electromagnetic field of energy that surrounds, infuses, and expresses your whole being.
When you walk into a room and instantly feel the mood, when you sense someone’s “vibe” before they speak, when your energy feels heavy or bright…that’s your aura in action.
It’s not a mystical abstraction. It’s your body, mind, and spirit translating vibrational information.
Learning to read your aura isn’t about becoming psychic overnight.
It’s about remembering your natural sensitivity to energy.
Once you learn to sense it consciously (through touch, sight, or intuition) you may begin to navigate life with greater clarity, empathy, and energetic sovereignty.
What Is an Aura?
Let’s start from the beginning for a sec.
The word aura comes from the Greek avra, meaning “breeze” or “breath.”
In metaphysical traditions, it refers to the subtle light body that reflects your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual state.
Many describe the aura as layered.
Each band of color or vibration correlating with a different level of consciousness.
There are a bunch of different interpretations of how the aura works. Here are some of the most common:
| Aura Layer | Where Is It? | Function / Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Etheric Layer | Closest to the body | Vitality, health, life force |
| Emotional Layer | Around 1–3 inches out | Feelings, mood, emotional processing |
| Mental Layer | 3–8 inches out | Thoughts, beliefs, self-talk |
| Astral Layer | Expansive, colorful | Love, relationships, soul connections |
| Etheric Template | Blueprint field | Alignment, manifestation, divine design |
| Celestial Layer | Radiant and luminous | Intuition, inspiration, spiritual connection |
| Causal Layer | Outermost field | Soul purpose, higher wisdom, karmic path |
Like I said, different traditions describe these layers in various ways.
Some use three layers, others use seven or more.But all agree that your aura is dynamic.
It expands when you’re joyful, contracts when you’re stressed, and changes color as your emotions shift.
Take a deeper dive: What Is the Human Aura (or Biofield)? and A Guide to the Aura’s 7 Subtle Bodies.
Why Learn to Read Your Aura?
When you understand your own aura, you may get greater insight into:
- Emotional clarity: You’ll know when you’re picking up someone else’s emotions vs. your own.
- Energy hygiene: You can sense when your field needs cleansing or grounding.
- Spiritual growth: Reading your aura helps strengthen your intuition and connection to higher consciousness.
- Healing insight: Physical imbalances often appear as distortions or dim areas in the aura before manifesting in the physical body as illness.
Think of aura reading as learning a new language. It’s the language of vibration.
Once you’re fluent, you’ll find that energy often speaks more truthfully than words.
How to Prepare: Ground, Center, and Open
Before you start reading energy, you need to be clear, calm, and grounded.
Energy flows best through a steady channel, not a frantic one.
Step 1: Ground.
Sit or stand comfortably with your feet flat on the floor. Imagine roots descending deep into the earth, anchoring your energy body. Feel the gravity and strength of that connection. (If you like this part, check out my Simple Grounding Meditation.
Step 2: Center.
Draw your awareness inward to your heart or solar plexus. Take several slow breaths until you feel still and present.
Step 3: Open.
Set your intention. Something like: “I’m open to perceiving energy clearly, safely, and truthfully.” This aligns your frequency and helps protect your boundaries.
Optional tools:
- A clear quartz or selenite crystal for energetic clarity
- A white candle or incense for purification
- Soft, natural light (dim fluorescent light can interfere with visual perception)
Method 1: Seeing the Aura with Your Physical Eyes
Even beginners can learn to see the faint shimmer of energy around living things. The key is soft focus and peripheral vision. Try this:
- Start simple.
Hold your hand against a white or neutral background in soft lighting. Relax your gaze, letting your eyes blur slightly. Try to look through your hand rather than at it. - Wait for the shimmer.
After 30 seconds to a minute, you may notice a faint pale outline or glow. It might look grayish, bluish, or clear. That’s your etheric field. - Blink slowly and observe.
Don’t strain. If you stare too hard, the image will probably fade. Aura vision happens when your brain stops filtering subtle light frequencies. - Expand to plants and people.
Try observing a leaf or a friend’s silhouette. You may see layers of color extending further out. The more relaxed you are, the more you perceive.
Tip: Mirrors can help! Stand against a neutral background and softly gaze at your reflection from the shoulders up. You might glimpse a halo-like haze. That’s your own luminous edge.
Method 2: Feeling the Aura with Your Hands
Some people sense energy more easily than they see it.
- Rub your palms together briskly for 10–15 seconds to activate sensitivity.
- Slowly separate your hands, about 3–6 inches apart.
- Move them gently closer and farther, as if compressing an invisible sponge. You’ll start to feel warmth, tingling, or magnetic resistance.
- That “pressure” is your bio-field. With practice, you’ll detect texture—dense, light, smooth, or prickly sensations that reveal the energy quality.
Try this around plants, crystals, pets, or another person’s energy field (with permission). Notice differences in texture and vibration.
Method 3: Seeing with the Inner Eye (Intuitive Vision)
For many, aura reading happens through the third eye.
This means the subtle perception between the brows that translates vibration into color, shape, or emotion.
Here’s how to try this:
- Close your eyes and breathe deeply.
- Bring to mind a person, plant, or yourself.
- Ask inwardly: “What does their energy feel or look like?”
- Notice the first color, symbol, or sensation that arises.
Your intuition communicates through imagery and feeling.
Don’t analyze. Just observe.
Over time, your impressions will become more accurate and consistent.
Aura Colors and Their Meanings
While no color system is universal, there are consistent themes across traditions.
Some folks see a tapestry of shifting colors, often with one color being more dominant.
Here are some commonly held meanings. Use these as a guide, but always trust your direct experience.
Take a deeper dive into Aura Colors and Their Meanings.
| Color | Meaning / Energy Tone |
|---|---|
| Red | Vitality, passion, courage, physical strength |
| Orange | Creativity, sensuality, emotional flow |
| Yellow | Intellect, optimism, confidence |
| Green | Healing, balance, compassion |
| Blue | Communication, calm, spiritual truth |
| Indigo | Intuition, psychic awareness, inner vision |
| Violet / Purple | Higher consciousness, spiritual alignment |
| White / Gold | Purity, protection, divine connection |
| Pink | Love, gentleness, emotional healing |
| Brown / Gray (cloudy) | Fatigue, confusion, energetic buildup needing cleansing |
Remember: Aura colors shift constantly.
For example, you might be violet in meditation, green when helping a friend, red during exercise, and gold when you’re inspired.
The point isn’t to “have” a color—it’s to understand your current vibration.
Aura Colors and Chakra Correlations
Many traditions align aura colors with the chakra system—the body’s energy centers.
Again, use your own discernment and intuition. Here are some commonly held meanings to get you started.
| Chakra | Location | Color | Aura Expression |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root | Base of spine | Red | Grounded, vital, secure |
| Sacral | Below navel | Orange | Creative, sensual, emotionally fluid |
| Solar Plexus | Upper abdomen | Yellow | Confident, self-aware, radiant |
| Heart | Center chest | Green / Pink | Compassionate, loving, healed |
| Throat | Throat | Blue | Expressive, truthful, calm |
| Third Eye | Forehead | Indigo | Intuitive, visionary |
| Crown | Top of head | Violet / White | Spiritually open, unified |
When one chakra is over- or under-active, its color may appear muted or more intense in your aura.
Balancing your chakras through meditation, movement, or sound may help harmonize your entire field.
The Dynamic Nature of the Aura
The aura breathes like you do.
It expands when you feel safe and inspired. It contracts when you’re afraid or drained.
Just as the lungs oxygenate the body, the aura filters and exchanges subtle energy with the world around you.
A few examples:
- After conflict: Your emotional layer may appear spiky or muddy.
- After meditation: it often turns bright, smooth, and pastel.
- After illness: it may look thin or pale, especially near the affected area.
Learning to observe these shifts can teach you how your lifestyle, thoughts, and relationships affect your energy field. It also teaches you how to nurture it.
Cleansing and Balancing Your Aura
Before and after aura work, cleansing helps keep your field bright and balanced.
Try one or more of these:
1. Salt Bath or Shower
Add sea salt or Epsom salt to a warm bath.
Visualize the salt drawing out heaviness and dissolving stagnant energy.
If you don’t have a tub, mix salt with warm water and pour it slowly over your shoulders in the shower.
Or, you could mix up salt with a little coconut or olive oil, and use that as a body scrub.
Learn more about The Healing Power of Sacred Baths.
2. Sacred Smoke or Sound Cleansing
Try burning sage, cedar, frankincense resin, or even incense.
Or use sound. Bells, singing bowls, clapping, or chanting can help.
The vibration helps break up dense frequencies.
3. Sunlight and Nature
Step into sunlight or sit under a tree.
Natural light and negative ions may help restore the aura’s polarity.
4. Crystals
Selenite helps clear and align
Black tourmaline helps ground and protect
Amethyst uplifts and purifies
Hold or place them near your body while meditating.
5. Visualization
Envision a waterfall of golden or violet light washing over you, cleansing each layer of your field.
Finish by imagining roots anchoring deep into the earth.
Practice Exercise: Reading Your Own Aura
- Prepare the space: Quiet room, soft natural light.
- Ground and center: A few slow breaths.
- Use a mirror: Sit or stand a few feet away from it.
- Soften your gaze: Look around your head and shoulders, not directly at your face.
- Note impressions: Colors, brightness, sensations.
Journal what you perceive. Don’t self censor, just write.
Over time, patterns may emerge.
For example, maybe your aura is golden when creative, turquoise when balanced, or dim when tired.
These insights help you care for your energy as tenderly as your body.
Practice Exercise: Reading Someone Else’s Aura
- Ask permission. Respect boundaries, energy is personal space.
- Have them stand against a pale wall.
- Soften your gaze and observe their outline. Notice any color or density.
- Trust intuition. You may feel something before you see it (warmth, calm, tension, etc.).
- Share gently. Always speak with kindness. The aura reflects emotion, not moral value.
For example: “I see soft green around your heart. It feels nurturing, maybe you’ve been healing something lately?”
Statements like this invite reflection, not judgment.
Common Challenges to Aura Reading (and How to Overcome Them)
“I can’t see anything!”
That’s okay. Start with sensing instead of seeing. Aura perception strengthens like a muscle.
“I keep doubting myself.”
Write down your impressions before analyzing. When your notes match later experiences, your confidence grows.
“I see colors but don’t know what they mean.”
Use general associations but also ask: What does this color feel like to me right now? Your personal color lexicon is the most accurate.
“My energy feels drained afterward.”
Always ground afterward: eat something, touch the earth, or visualize roots. Protect your field before reading others.
Building Trust in Your Perception
Reading auras isn’t about perfection. It’s about trust.
You’re tuning into the language of subtle truth.
With daily awareness, you’ll start to recognize your energetic baseline and sense shifts intuitively.
For example, practice noticing:
- The colors that come to mind during meditation
- How your mood changes in different spaces
- How your energy feels after time with certain people
- Which side of your body feels brighter or heavier
These micro-observations build confidence in your intuitive intelligence.
The Aura as a Map of the Soul
Every glow, ripple, and flicker tells a story.
Your aura records your history. That means joy, heartbreak, hope, resilience, etc.
It’s your living autobiography written in light.
As you grow spiritually, the aura refines.
Lower frequencies like fear may transmute into higher ones like compassion.
This is the alchemy of the soul…shadow into light, density into radiance.
When you read your aura, you’re not just observing energy. You’re witnessing your evolution in real time.
The colors show where you’re expanding, healing, or holding back. That awareness is power.
5 Ways to Integrate Aura Awareness into Your Daily Life
So this is all great, but how do you use it in your everyday life?
You don’t need to “read” auras every day to live energetically aligned.
Try these five simple practices:
- Morning check-in: Close your eyes and feel your energy. Bright? Heavy? Neutral?
- Energy hygiene: Wash your hands under running water after emotional conversations.
- Visualization: Surround yourself with a sphere of golden or white light before entering crowded places.
- Creative expression: Paint, dance, or sing your current color—it moves energy.
- Night reset: Imagine your aura gently retracting and resting as you fall asleep.
These small rituals keep your field vibrant and clear, supporting emotional balance and intuitive clarity.
Advanced Exploration: Aura Photography and Technology
Modern devices like Kirlian photography and biofeedback aura cameras attempt to capture the electromagnetic emissions of the body.
While some question these practices, they may provide fascinating visual mirrors for your energetic state.
If you’ve ever had your aura photographed, treat the image as a conversation starter, not an absolute reading.
Your own intuitive perception remains the truest guide.
Practical Ritual for Strengthening Aura Perception
You’ll need:
- A white candle
- Clear quartz or amethyst
- A mirror
- Journal and pen
Steps:
- Light your candle and sit comfortably.
- Hold the crystal in your hand and breathe deeply.
- Gaze into the mirror softly. Say something aloud akin to: “I open my inner sight to truth, love, and clarity.”
- Observe any colors or sensations around you.
- Write what you experience (colors, textures, feelings). Don’t self censor.
Repeat weekly to strengthen your energetic vision.
Over time, you may find that you notice patterns and synchronicities aligning with your daily life.
The Energetic Etiquette of Aura Reading
So this is a touchy topic and folks have LOTS of opinions on this. That said, in general, here are a few good ground rules when working with energy:
- Ask permission before reading someone else’s aura.
- Don’t diagnose health or predict outcomes.
- Share impressions gently in such a way that folks can take action.
- Protect your own energy before and after sessions.
Reading auras should uplift, not invade. True energy work honors consent, respect, and compassion.
Trust the Light You Are
So, you get the point: You don’t have to be a mystic to sense the sacred.
The aura is simply the language of aliveness, whispering that everything you feel and think radiates outward, shaping your world.
When you learn to see, sense, and trust your energy, life becomes a dialogue between the visible and invisible.
You begin to notice how your light responds to truth, how it contracts from fear, and how love makes it blaze.
You aren’t merely surrounded by light. You ARE light, condensed into form.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational and spiritual purposes only. Aura reading and energy practices are not substitutes for professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic care. I’m not your doctor, therapist, or spiritual counselor. Always consult qualified practitioners for physical or mental health concerns. If you use herbs, crystals, or tools for aura cleansing, ensure they are safe, ethically sourced, and used mindfully.
