What Is Aura Reading
What Is Aura Reading, in Plain Terms
What is aura reading? It is the practice of sensing or seeing the field of light and color that many traditions say surrounds a living person, and then describing what that field seems to show about the mood of the person, their energy, and their state of mind. A reader may look directly at a person, sense the field with the hands, or work from a photograph, and then speak about what they notice, a bright band near the head, a dull patch near the chest, a color that dominates the field. This page is about the reading itself, how it is done, where the idea came from, and what a session looks like. It is not a guide to the colors. The color meanings live in aura colors meaning, with one page per color, such as blue aura meaning. The reading and the colors are two different skills, and a reader who can see a field clearly may still read a color badly, while a reader who knows the color list by heart may see nothing at all.
The Idea Behind the Field
The idea is old, and it appears in many traditions under many names. In the usual description, every living person carries a field that extends a short distance beyond the body, made of layers, each layer tied to a different part of life, the body, the feelings, the mind, and the spirit. The field is said to change with mood, health, and attention, brightening when a person feels well, dimming when a person feels tired, shifting color when a strong feeling passes through. The field is not the body, and it is not the mind. It is described as a third thing, a kind of atmosphere that a sensitive person can perceive. The idea matters because it shapes the reading. A reader does not look at the body. A reader looks at the space around the body, and describes what seems to move there. Many people first meet the idea during the shifts described in spiritual awakening signs, when attention sharpens and the world starts to feel more vivid. Learning what a spiritual awakening is can help place the experience in a wider frame.
A Short History, From Theosophy to the Camera
The modern idea of the aura took shape in the Theosophical movement of the late 1800s. Charles Webster Leadbeater, a member of the Theosophical Society, published Man Visible and Invisible in London in 1902, a book of colored plates showing the human aura at different stages of growth, and he had earlier written Thought Forms in 1901 with Annie Besant, which showed how thoughts and feelings were said to shape the field. In 1911, the London doctor Walter Kilner published The Human Atmosphere, or the Aura Made Visible by the Aid of Chemical Screens, in which he described looking at patients through glass screens coated with a blue dye called dicyanin, and seeing three layers around the body, a dark band close to the skin, an inner aura, and an outer aura. Kilner worked as a medical electrician at St Thomas Hospital in London, and he hoped the aura would help doctors diagnose illness. The British Medical Journal reviewed the book in January 1912, tried to repeat his results, and could not, and the review closed by saying Kilner had failed to convince the reviewers that his aura was any more real than a dagger in a play. The idea moved on without medical backing. In 1939, the Soviet technician Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina discovered that placing an object on a photographic plate under high voltage produced an image of a glowing discharge around it, and the Kirlians first reported their experiments in 1958. Their work reached the West through the 1970 book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder. In 1970, the electronics engineer Guy Coggins built the first commercial aura camera, which used hand sensors to measure skin conductance and translated the readings into colors around a portrait. Each step in the history added a tool, a book, a screen, a camera, but none of them settled the question of whether the field exists in the way readers describe it.
How a Reader Works: Seeing, Sensing, and Feeling
A reader works in one of three ways, and most readers favor one. The first way is seeing. The reader looks at a person against a plain light background, softens the gaze, and watches for a band of light, color, or haze around the head and shoulders. The second way is sensing with the hands. The reader holds the hands a few inches from the body and moves them slowly, noticing warmth, coolness, tingling, or a sense of resistance in the air. The third way is feeling, in which the reader sits quietly, closes the eyes, and notices an impression of the person, a color, a mood, a place in the body that feels heavy or bright. Many readers combine two ways, seeing and sensing together, and they describe the result as a picture that forms slowly, layer by layer. A reader usually starts with the outer edge, describing the shape and the brightness of the field, then moves inward, naming colors, patches, and gaps, and then links what they see to the life of the person, a tired week, a new project, a grief that has not lifted. A good reader speaks in plain words, names what is clear and what is faint, and stops when the impression fades rather than inventing a detail to fill the silence.
How to Practice Seeing an Aura Yourself
A beginner can practice with a partner, a plain wall, and ten quiet minutes. Stand the partner against a white or pale wall, in soft daylight, with no bright lamp behind them. Stand about six feet away, relax the shoulders, and look at a spot just above the head of your partner, not directly at the face. Soften the eyes, the way you would soften them to look at a distant hill, and hold the gaze for thirty seconds without blinking hard. Many people notice a thin pale band around the head and shoulders first, a faint outline that seems to shimmer. Keep looking for a minute, and the band may widen, or a hint of color may appear. Do not strain, and do not stare. Strain makes the eyes water and the band vanish. After a minute, look away at a blank wall for ten seconds, then look back. Write down what you saw, with the date, the light, and the mood of your partner. Repeat the exercise with the same partner for a week, at the same time of day, and compare the notes. Some people see a band at once. Some people see nothing for a month, and then see a band on a quiet morning. Both results are normal. Practice with a plant works too, and it removes the pressure of reading a person. A daily quiet sitting, such as the method in meditation for beginners, sharpens the same attention the aura practice needs, a soft gaze, a still body, and a patient mind.
What Happens in a Professional Aura Reading
A professional reading usually runs thirty to sixty minutes, and it opens with a short conversation. The reader asks what the client wants to understand, and whether the focus is a mood, a relationship, a work question, or a general check. The reader then looks at the client, or senses the field with the hands, and describes what they notice, layer by layer, from the outer edge inward. The client listens, confirms what fits, and says plainly what does not fit. A good reader treats the client response as part of the reading, not as an interruption, and adjusts the description as the client speaks. Some readers work from a photograph, looking at the image in a quiet room and describing the field they sense around the person in the picture. Some readers use a camera, such as the Coggins system, which measures skin conductance through hand sensors and prints a portrait with colors around it, and then explains the color pattern to the client. A reading ends with a short summary, three or four points the client can carry away, and a suggestion for the week ahead, such as rest, a walk, or a conversation that has been delayed. The reader keeps notes, or encourages the client to take notes, because the details fade fast once the session ends.
An Illustrative Example: Delia and the Gray Week
This example is illustrative, not a real person's story. Delia, a 29 year old nurse, booked an aura reading after a month of night shifts left her tired and flat. The reader began with the outer edge and described a field that looked narrow and gray, with a small bright patch near the hands. Delia recognized the picture at once. Her hands had been the busy part of her month, steady and useful, while the rest of her felt drained. The reader then described a dull patch near the chest, and asked whether Delia had been holding back a feeling. Delia said yes. A patient she had cared for had died, and she had not talked about it with anyone on the ward. The reader did not claim the field had diagnosed anything. The reader used the picture as a prompt, and Delia talked for ten minutes about the patient, the night it happened, and the grief she had shelved. She left the session with a short plan, a walk each morning before her shift, a conversation with a colleague she trusted, and a week of earlier nights. A month later, she booked a second reading, and the reader described a wider field, with more color near the head. Delia did not treat the second reading as proof that the first one had been right. She treated both readings as a mirror, a picture that helped her name what she already knew, and the naming helped her act.
What Aura Reading Cannot Do, and the Honest Limits
Aura reading has clear limits, and naming them makes the real value clearer. No controlled study has shown that readers can see a field that other people cannot measure, and the color meanings vary from reader to reader, so two readers may describe the same person in different colors. A Kirlian photograph shows a real electrical discharge, and the discharge changes with moisture, pressure, and the settings of the device, which means it is a picture of physics, not a picture of a soul. A commercial aura camera measures skin conductance, temperature, and pulse, which are real signals from the nervous system, and then translates them into colors according to a fixed chart, which means the picture is a translation, not a direct sight. None of those facts makes the practice worthless. A reading can help a person name a mood, notice a tired week, or start a conversation that has been delayed, and that help is real even when the mechanism is not proven. What a reading cannot do is diagnose an illness, predict a death, name a disease, or replace a doctor. A reader who claims to see cancer, a heart problem, or a hidden injury in the field is making a medical claim, and a medical claim belongs to a qualified professional, with tests and training. A reader who keeps the work in the frame of reflection and guidance, and who says plainly when an impression is faint, is working honestly. A client who wants a second view from a person rather than a field can consult what a medium is before booking a session.
If you want help understanding what you noticed in your own practice, a live reading can talk it through with you. First 3 minutes FREE — every time, for every reading, with all advisors.
For a simple next step, try a One-Card Tarot reading and reflect on how its image matches the mood you have been carrying this week.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is aura reading in simple terms?
Aura reading is the practice of sensing or seeing the field of light and color that many traditions say surrounds a person, and describing what it seems to show about mood, energy, and state of mind. It is about the reading itself, not only the colors.
Can anyone learn to read auras?
Many people can learn to notice a faint band around a person with soft gaze practice against a plain wall, though results vary widely. Daily quiet sitting, patience, and a notebook of what you saw will teach you more than one dramatic attempt.
What is the difference between aura reading and aura colors?
Aura reading is the skill of sensing or seeing the field, while aura colors are the meanings attached to each color in the field. This page covers the reading, and the color pages explain what each color is said to mean.
How long does a professional aura reading take?
Most professional readings run thirty to sixty minutes, opening with a short conversation, then a description of the field layer by layer, and ending with a short summary and a suggestion for the week ahead.
Can an aura reading diagnose illness?
No, an aura reading cannot diagnose illness, and no controlled study has shown that readers can see a field that others cannot measure. A reader who claims to see a disease is making a medical claim, and that belongs to a qualified professional.
Last updated: November 12, 2026
