The easiest way to see an aura is have a friend stand up against a white wall. Make sure the lighting in the room is slightly dim. Then stand far enough from your subject so that you can see their entire body, from head to toe. Look closely at your subject, trace the edge of his/her form (especially around their head and shoulders) with your eyes. Don't look directly at your subject, look past him/her. You should be able to, if you're doing this correctly, see a fuzzy gray/white area around the outline of your subject. If you're seeing this then you are seeing their aura! If you're not seeing this, rest your eyes for a moment and try again. Once you have practiced this enough, you may be able to make out colors in your subject's aura.
Disease shows up in the aura in many different ways, sometimes weeks before any physical symptoms. An ear infection, for example, will show up as a shadow over the side of the head before any symptoms appear. This shadow will gradually change into a murky, khaki green. As the infection takes hold, it will become shot through with red and orange flecks. These colors are commonly seen in infections.
Why Most People Fail to See the Aura
The most common reason people fail to see the aura when they first try is simply the way they go about it. The human aura is not a good training ground for beginners.
This is what usually happens: Your volunteer sits and waits, for a long time, while you strain for a glimpse of their aura. You are trying to relax and concentrate and master a tricky visual technique, all at the same time. You subconsciously worry about what they are thinking of you. Are they getting bored or impatient? Do they think you foolish, a failure, or both? This kind of pressure causes tension that effectively negates the relaxed state needed to see the aura. Trying to get results under this kind of pressure, as a beginner, is next to impossible.
Practicing to See Auras
To see the aura you have to be able to relax and concentrate, at the same time, and there is a trick to focusing the eyes in a special way.
1. You need soft light to train in, not dim, but good soft light. No harsh light shining or reflecting in your eyes! Get a book and cover it in Blue or Red paper. Stand it upright on a table several feet from you. Experiment with the distance until you find what is best for you. Make sure you have a plain neutral background. If the wall color is wrong, hang a sheet of neutral colored paper or cloth as a backdrop.
Note: The auras of the colors Blue and Red are the brightest and easiest to see. Blue has a Yellow aura and Red has a Green aura. The brightness and tone of the aura varies with the shade and tone of the color used, so use bright primary colors.
2. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and relax. When you are calm, look at the book. Focus your eyes on nothing, a little to the side and past it. Gently hold and get used to that focus but don't strain your eyes or tense your eyes or forehead. Concentrate! you need a gentle, steady un-focus, similar to day-dreaming.
Note: When you need to blink, do so, or it will cause your eyes to tense and water. Blink normally and quickly without changing focus, and do not become preoccupied with it. It may cause the aura to disappear for a second, but it will reappear quickly if you stay relaxed and hold your focus.
After a while you will see a pale narrow aura coming from the book. Hold the focus, don't look AT it, soon a bright Yellow or Green aura will start building up from the object. Don't change focus or look directly at it or the aura will disappear.
There is a reason for this strange un-focus. Your outer field of vision is many times more sensitive than the focused area is. Have you ever seen a movement, out of the corner of your eye, only to turn and see nothing there? What you may have seen is an aura building up from something and your outer field of vision has detected it.
3. Once you have completed the first step, gather several books and cover them, each with a different colored paper. Study these one at a time and write down the auric color for it. Next try using two at a time, and watch how the auric colors affect each other.
4. Get a pot plant or some flowers and study it. The aura you will see emanates from the living plant and also from the colors of the petals. The Orange hue comes from the green of the stems and leaves. You will also see a more distinct etheric and a shimmering optical effect around them. This shimmering is the energy field or living aura of the plant.
5. For the next step use an animal, dog or cat etc, if you have one. Try and observe them when they are resting.
6. Observe your own aura. This can be done both inside and outside in the sun. Hold your arm out and study it against the sky or clouds. Alternatively, lie down and look at your legs. Make sure the skin is bare when you do this, and remember, grass will give off an Orange hue.
7. When you feel proficient enough, try it with a human subject. Just remember not to try too hard. Do it exactly the same as in the original exercise with the book. Get your volunteer to remove some of their clothing and study the bare skin area against a neutral background.
On a human subject, again, the first thing you will see is the etheric aura, like pale smoke clinging to the skin. Next you will see the shimmering optical effect in the air extending from several inches to a couple of feet deep, depending on the strength of their aura. Keep trying and the aura's color will build up, and out from, the etheric. It will first appear as a narrow band of color next to the etheric. This will expand slowly, if you hold your focus, until it is several inches or more thick.
8. The brightness of a person's aura has a lot to do with how they feel. If they feel happy and full of life their aura is stronger, larger and brighter. Try playing their favorite music, this will help to energize their aura and make it easier to see.
9. Try it on your volunteer outside. Make sure the sun is behind you and use clouds as a backdrop.
It takes practice to see the human aura, so don't be disappointed if you fail, or see very little, the first few times you try. If you managed to see the auric colors of the books, you CAN learn to see the human aura. Using this training method stimulates the forehead chakra, which is responsible for this ability. With use, it will grow in strength, and become progressively easier to do.
I have taught many people to see the aura using this method. The fast results build confidence and keep interest high. This ensures enough work and effort is put in to get the desired results... seeing the human aura.
Further Practice in Seeing the Aura
Have a friend lie or sit in front of a white or black background, preferably naked, the lighting should be very dim, so that shadows dance upon the walls or scenery, and colors are not absorbed by the presence of light.
They should remain perfectly still, unmoving and undisturbed. While they do this, your or the member of the circle should center and enter a light form of trance, be open to astral energies around the area.
- Let your eyes relax, your thoughts fade, loosen your muscles and be open to what you will try to perceive. See the person on the still form of your subject, and try to see or to feel any energy they may give off. Is there a glare around them, a slight line of blurred or foggy color, lighter or darker than those surrounding them; is there a wave like heat being given off. Concentrate and trust in what you see. Look closely into any bright spots, which may appear as light or just dim variations within the astral body (or aura), the changes or patterns may be subtle at first but with practice and time you will begin to perceive these colors more easily.
Colors of the auras can mean many different things, an emotion, a character, a quality of the person who exudes them, note how you feel; does it attract you, unease you; are you comfortable around the person, does the sight offer you any changes within yourself, take turns letting each person try to view and each person be viewed - find which ones are bright, easiest to perceive, or seen by the most. Also see which ones hold brighter variations of the same color, and try to find out why there is the similarity.
Once this has been practiced and used effectively, try these exercises to further advance uses of the astral mind and body...... Under usual circumstances we are surrounded by the aura on all sides, it extends just beyond the mortal flesh and is bonded to the physical body. Blindfold one person, and let another walk to within about three feet of the person, see if they can tell when you are near, try to feel it change in the surrounding air, or in your own inner feelings to tell when they have entered the perimeter of the aura, change and try it yourself.
Take a pendulum, and hold it over your hand- (a pendulum may be anything upon a string, preferably light weight, which is free to move or swing in any direction.)
- Try to move energy through your arm and out of the hand, move the pendulum to within about three inches of your fingers, and see if you might raise enough power to cause the pendulum to tilt or swing when it touches the outer layers of your aura. Use the pendulum to check others, to find where the perimeter of the aura lies, tell them to meditate on expanding the aura, and see if it moves earlier than before, or if the movement is less subtle. Sit facing each other, legs crossed, knees touching, eyes transfixed upon the person before you - each person should use their hand to "feel" where the aura is strongest or the weakest, if a person is ill then there may be a location where it seems the aura has no color, or may even hold more color than other parts of the body, the color in this case is the feel you get from being in contact with the other persons astral form.
Now sit in the same way, still facing, yet in different rooms, with a wall between you, or farther away than before.
One should be the "sender" and the other the "receiver", the sender should try to visualize a one of four elements.
For earth- the sender might visualize a dark cave about them, might feel the weight of the world literally on their shoulders, cool , moist, shadowed, centered
For water- deep flowing silk of the sea, drifting them into their own thoughts, cool, moist, healing and emotional.
For fire- exploding rifts of a volcano, filling the spirit with passion and light, warm, dry, and active.
For air- the passing clouds, of a bird in flight, carried swiftly upon the four winds, warm, dry, imaginative and vivacious.
The receiver should try to feel which one of these is being exuded by their partner, feel the change in
temperature, or the shifting patterns of thought as you contemplate to answer, feel the emotional qualities it offers you and compare what you think with the other, notice any keys which may lead to your decision.
To See Your Own Aura
Stand in front of a mirror at least 18 inches away, further if possible. Place yourself with a white or neutral color surface visible in the mirror behind you, again 18 inches or more is ideal. Relax, breathe deeply and sway gently from side to side. Focus on the texture of the surface of the wall behind you.
As you stare past the outline of your head and shoulders you will see the envelope of light around your body move with you as you rock gently. Remember to breathe as you do this, since you are both now viewer and subject. Lighting should be subdued, neither too bright, nor too dark. Experiment.
Auras cannot be seen in total darkness, and bright light will wash them out all but the most vibrant of auras. Color of clothing is unimportant. You might find that your auric color, when you become accustomed to seeing it, will clash with certain items in your wardrobe, but you will see your true colors regardless of what you wear.
Experiment with projecting a color: Think of a color and try to visualize it. You can change your baseline colors temporarily through this kind of exercise, and see the change occur. As you exhale, notice that the aura should get larger. Reciting the #'s 1 thru 30 in a normal speaking voice will help liberate your energy. Take a breath after every 2 numbers. Speed up the count from the number 20 on without taking a breath and watch your aura shrink in size and vibrancy. As you resume normal quiet breathing, the aura will return to its former size, but might appear a bit brighter.
~ from Maat's Book of Shadows