Aura (paranormal)

An aura or human energy field is, according to New Age

beliefs, a colored emanation said to enclose a human body
or any animal or object.[1] In some esoteric positions, the
aura is described as a subtle body.[2] Psychics and holistic
medicine practitioners often claim to have the ability to see
the size, color and type of vibration of an aura.[3]

In spiritual alternative medicine, the human being aura is

seen as part of a hidden anatomy that reflects the state of
being and health of a client, often understood to even
comprise centers of vital force called chakras.[1] Such
claims are not supported by ordinary scientific evidence and
are thus labeled as pseudoscience.[4] When tested under
scientific controlled experiments, the ability to see auras
has not been proven to exist.[5]
Representation of a
human aura, after a
Contents diagram by Walter John
Kilner (1847–1920).
Etymology
History
Aura photography
Tests
Scientific explanation
In popular culture
See also
References
Sources
External links

Etymology
In Latin and Ancient Greek, aura means wind, breeze or breath. It was used in
Middle English to mean "gentle breeze". By the end of the 19th century, the word
was used in some spiritualist circles to describe a speculated subtle emanation
around the body.[6][7]

History
The concept of auras was first popularized by Charles
Webster Leadbeater, a former priest of the Church of
England and a member of the mystic Theosophical
Society.[8] Leadbeater had studied theosophy in India, and
believed he had the capacity to use his clairvoyant powers
to make scientific investigations.[9] He claimed that he had
discovered that most men come from Mars but the more
advanced men come from the Moon, and that hydrogen
atoms are made of six bodies contained in an egg-like
form.[10] In his book Man Visible and Invisible published in
1903, Leadbeater illustrated the aura of man at various
stages of his moral evolution, from the "savage" to the
saint.[11][12] In 1910, Leadbeater introduced the modern
conception of auras by incorporating the Tantric notion of Charles Webster
chakras in his book The Inner Life.[13] But Leadbeater Leadbeater is credited
didn't simply present the Tantric beliefs to the West, he with developing and
reconstructed and reinterpreted them by mixing them with popularizing the concept
his own ideas, without acknowledging the sources of these of auras.
innovations. Some of Leadbeater's innovations are
describing chakras as energy vortices, and associating each
of them with a gland, an organ and other body parts.[14]

In the following years, Leadbeater's ideas on the aura and chakras were adopted and
reinterpreted by other Theosophists such as Rudolf Steiner[15] and Edgar Cayce, but
his occult anatomy remained of minor interest within the esoteric counterculture
until the 1980s, when it was picked up by the New Age movement.[16]

In 1977, American esotericist Christopher Hills published the book Nuclear

Evolution: The Rainbow Body, which presented a modified version of Leadbeater's
occult anatomy.[17] Whereas Leadbeater had drawn each chakras with intricately
detailed shapes and multiple colors, Hills presented them as a sequence of centers,
each one being associated with a color of the rainbow. Most of the subsequent New
Age writers will base their representations of the aura on Hill's interpretation of
Leadbeater's ideas.[18] Chakras became a part of mainstream esoteric speculations
in the 1980s and 1990s. Many New Age techniques that aim to clear blockages of the
chakras were developed during those years, such as crystal healing and aura-
soma.[19] Chakras were, by the late 1990s, less connected with their theosophical
and Hinduist root, and more infused with New Age ideas. A variety of New Age books
proposed different links between each chakras and colors, personality traits,
illnesses, Christian sacraments,[20] etc.[21] Various type of holistic healing within the
New Age movement claim to use aura reading techniques, such as bioenergetic
analysis, spiritual energy and energy medicine.[22]

Aura photography
There have been numerous attempts to capture an energy field around the human
body, going as far back as photographs by French physician Hippolyte Baraduc in the
1890s.[23] Supernatural interpretations of these images have often been the result of
a lack of understanding of the simple natural phenomena behind them, such as heat
emanating from a human body producing aura-like images under infrared
photography.[24]
 In 1939, Semyon Davidovich
Kirlian discovered that by placing
an object or body part directly on
photographic paper, and then
passing a high voltage across the
object, he would obtain the image
of a glowing contour surrounding
the object. This process came to be
known as Kirlian photography.[25]
Some parapsychologists, such as
Thelma Moss of UCLA, have
proposed that these images show
A Kirlian photo showing
levels of psychic powers and
an artistic
bioenergies. However, studies have
Picture by Hippolyte representation of a man
found that the Kirlian effect is in the Lotus position,
Baraduc published in
1896, purported to show
caused by the presence of surrounded by a blue
a "vital force" around a
moisture on the object being glow
child. photographed. Electricity produces
an area of gas ionization around
the object if it is moist, which is the case for living things.
This causes an alternation of the electric charge pattern on the film.[26] After
rigorous experimentations, no mysterious process has been discovered in relation to
the Kirlian photography.[27][28]

More recent attempts at capturing auras include the Aura Imaging cameras and
software introduced by Guy Coggins in 1992. Coggins claims that his software uses
biofeedback data to color the picture of the subject. The technique has failed to yield
reproducible results.[24]

Tests
Tests of psychic abilities to observe alleged aura
emanations have repeatedly been met with failure.[24]

One test involved placing people in a dark room and asking

the psychic to state how many auras she could observe.
Only chance results were obtained.[29]

Recognition of auras has occasionally been tested on

television. One test involved an aura reader standing on one
side of a room with an opaque partition separating her from
a number of slots which might contain either actual people
or mannequins. The aura reader failed to identify the slots
containing people, incorrectly stating that all contained An aura reader tested in
people.[30] a controlled experiment
at the Observatoire
In another televised test another aura reader was placed Zététique, May 2004
before a partition where five people were standing. He
claimed that he could see their auras from behind the
partition. As each person moved out, the reader was asked to identify where that
person was standing behind the slot. He identified 2 out of 5 correctly.[31]
Attempts to prove the existence of auras scientifically have repeatedly met with
failure; for example people are unable to see auras in complete darkness, and auras
have never been successfully used to identify people when their identifying features
are otherwise obscured in controlled tests.[24][29][30][31] A 1999 study concluded that
conventional sensory cues such as radiated body heat might be mistaken for
evidence of a metaphysical phenomenon.[32]

Scientific explanation
Psychologist Andrew Neher has written that "there is no good evidence to support
the notion that auras are, in any way, psychic in origin."[33] Studies in laboratory
conditions have demonstrated that the aura is instead best explained as a visual
illusion known as an afterimage.[34][35] Neurologists contend that people may
perceive auras because of effects within the brain: epilepsy, migraines, or the
influence of psychedelic drugs such as LSD.[36][37]

It has been suggested that auras may be the result of synaesthesia.[38] However, a
2012 study discovered no link between auras and synaesthesia, concluding "the
discrepancies found suggest that both phenomena are phenomenological and
behaviourally dissimilar."[39] Clinical neurologist Steven Novella has written "Given
the weight of the evidence it seems that the connection between auras and
synaesthesia is speculative and based on superficial similarities that are likely
coincidental."[40]

Other causes may include disorders within the visual system provoking optical
effects.

Bridgette Perez in a review for the Skeptical Inquirer has written "perceptual
distortions, illusions, and hallucinations might promote belief in auras...
Psychological factors, including absorption, fantasy proneness, vividness of visual
imagery, and after-images, might also be responsible for the phenomena of the
aura."[41]

Scientists have repeatedly concluded that the ability to see auras does not actually
exist.[24][29][30][31]

In popular culture
The book The Third Eye, written by Cyril Henry Hoskin under the pseudonym
Lobsang Rampa, claims that Tibetan monks opened the spiritual third eye using
trepanation in order to accelerate the development of clairvoyance and allow them
to see the aura. It also includes body gazing techniques purported to help achieve
aura visualization.[42] The book is by some considered to be a hoax.[43][44]

See also
Aureola
Clairvoyance
Confirmation bias
Halo (religious iconography)
 Lesya
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
Metaphysics

References
1. Hanegraaff 2006, p. 857.
2. Hammer 2001, p. 55.
3. Hines 2002, p. 427.
4. Hines 2002, pp. 362–70.
5. Scheiber, Béla; Selby, Carla (2000). Therapeutic Touch. Amherst, New York:
Prometheus Books. p. 275. ISBN 1573928046.
6. "Online Etymology Dictionary" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_f
rame=0&search=aura). Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2017-05-21.
7. Marques, A. (1896). The Human Aura: A Study (https://books.google.ca/books?id=Jj
9DAAAAIAAJ). Office of Mercury. pp. 1–2 and preface. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
8. Hanegraaff 2006, p. 686.
9. Tillett 1986, p. 193.
10. Tillett 1986, pp. 220–22.
11. Tillett 1986, p. 235.
12. Leadbeater, Charles Webster (2012). Man Visible and Invisible: Examples of
Different Types of Men as Seen by Means of Trained Clairvoyance (https://books.go
ogle.com/?id=nMTJAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q&f=false). New
Theosophical Press. p. 8. ISBN 9781471747038. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
13. Hammer 2001, p. 183.
14. Hammer 2001, pp. 184–87.
15. Steiner, Rudolf; Creeger, Catherine E. (1994). Theosophy: An Introduction to the
Spiritual Processes in Human Life and in the Cosmos (https://steiner.presswarehous
e.com/sites/steiner/research/archive/theosophy/theosophy.pdf) (PDF) (3rd ed.).
Hudson, New York: Anthroposophic Press. p. 159. ISBN 0880103736. Retrieved
17 May 2017.
16. Hammer 2001, p. 187.
17. Hills, Christopher (1977). Nuclear Evolution: Discovery of the Rainbow Body (http
s://books.google.ca/books?id=bXRWAAAAYAAJ) (2nd ed.). Boulder Creek, California:
University of the Trees Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780916438098. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
18. Hammer 2001, p. 188.
19. Hammer 2001, p. 92.
20. Myss, Caroline (1997). Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and
Healing (https://books.google.ca/books?id=NmwwRCv52SAC) (1st ed.). New York:
Three Rivers Press. p. 71. ISBN 9780609800140. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
21. Hammer 2001, p. 189.
22. Brennan, Barbara Ann (1988). Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the
Human Energy Field (https://books.google.com/?id=M3dOAgz05bQC&q=Character
+structure) (Paperback ed.). New York: Bantam Books. pp. 109–10.
ISBN 0553345397. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
23. Baraduc, Hippolyte (1896). L'ame humaine: ses mouvements, ses lumières et
l'iconographie de l'invisible fluidique (https://books.google.ca/books?id=tD8wAAAA
YAAJ) (in French). G. Carré. p. 61. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
24. Joe Nickell. "Aura Photography: A Candid Shot" (http://www.csicop.org/si/show/aura
_photography_a_candid_shot/). The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved
2016-10-21.
25. Hammer 2001, pp. 240–43.
26. Pehek, JO; Kyler, HJ; Faust, DL (15 October 1976). "Image modulation in corona
discharge photography". Science. 194 (4262): 263–70.
doi:10.1126/science.968480 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.968480).
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the paranormal : a Skeptical inquirer collection (https://archive.org/details/hundred
thmonkey00kend). Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books. pp. 209–21 (https://archi
ve.org/details/hundredthmonkey00kend/page/209). ISBN 0879756551.
28. Hines 2002, pp. 427–28.
29. Loftin, Robert W. (1990). "Auras: Searching for the Light". The Skeptical Inquirer.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. 24: 403–09.
30. "Auras" (http://skepdic.com/auras.html). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/20061205221945/http://skepdic.com/auras.html) from the
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QBU). Retrieved 2008-01-14.
32. "Perception of Conventional Sensory Cues as an Alternative to the
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tps://www.researchgate.net/publication/230683042). The Scientific Review of
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33. Neher, Andrew (1990). The Psychology of Transcendence (https://archive.org/detail
s/psychologyoftran00nehe) (2nd ed.). New York: Dover. pp. 186–88 (https://archive.
org/details/psychologyoftran00nehe/page/186). ISBN 0486261670.
34. Fraser-Harris, D. F. (1932). A psycho physiological explanation of the so-called
human "aura". British Journal of Medical Psychology 12: 174–84.
35. Dale, A., Anderson, D. & Wyman, L. (1978). Perceptual Aura: Not Spirit but
Afterimage and Border Contrast Effects. Perceptual and Motor Skills 47: 653–54.
36. Hill, Donna L; Daroff, Robert B; Ducros, Anne; Newman, Nancy J; Biousse, Valérie
(March 2007). "Most Cases Labeled as "Retinal Migraine" Are Not Migraine". Journal
of Neuro-Ophthalmology. 27 (1): 3–8. doi:10.1097/WNO.0b013e3180335222 (http
s://doi.org/10.1097%2FWNO.0b013e3180335222). PMID 17414865 (https://pubme
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37. "Familial occipitotemporal lobe epilepsy and migraine with visual aura" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20070927015956/http://neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/2
3/1995). Neurology.org. Archived from the original (http://neurology.org/cgi/conten
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38. "auras – The Skeptic's Dictionary" (http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html).
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39. Milán, E.G.; Iborra, O.; Hochel, M.; Rodríguez Artacho, M.A.; Delgado-Pastor, L.C.;
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g00lobs) (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 9780345340382.
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Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006). Dictionary of Gnosis & Western Esotericism. Leiden:
Brill. ISBN 9789004152311.
Hammer, Olav (2001). Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from
Theosophy to the New Age. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 900413638X.
Hines, Terence (2002). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2nd ed.). Amherst, New
York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573929794.
Tillett, Gregory John (1 January 1986). "Charles Webster Leadbeater 1854–1934: a
biographical study". University of Sydney. hdl:2123/1623 (https://hdl.handle.net/21
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External links
Auras in the "Skeptic's dictionary" (http://skepdic.com/auras.html)
How Aura Photography Invaded Instagram (https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/1
1/15/18050140/aura-photography-instagram-auracam6000-christina-lonsdale-new-
age)

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