For centuries the idea of a human aura persisted, from the days of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome up to the present day. Much of the sacred art from ancient cultures depict a glowing hand of luminescence around heads and bodies of revered individuals.

In Christian art the luminous cloud around the body was termed the aura, the halo depicted around the heads of saints and holy men the nimbus, and the combination of both was known as a glory.

It is believed that certain psychically gifted people could see the aura around all living things,including plants, trees and wildlife, and that the aura in people differed from person to person in both colour and luminescence. Thereby acting as an expression of the individual’s degree of spiritual advancement, their state ofhealth and emotional well being.

It was not until the late twentieth century that Dr Walter J Kilner established the reality of the human aura as a physical phenomenon. Born in1847 he had a distinguished career and became a student in St Thomas’ Hospital in 1869.

It was ten years later that hewas appointed in charge of electro- therapy at St Thomas’. In 1883 he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians and had a private practice in London.

This period of discovery was making great strides in the advancement of science and medicine, the so called ‘animal magnetism’ popularised by Franz Anton Mesmer, was in the vogue. The German scientist Reichenbach was actively experimenting with ‘sensitives’ who said they could perceive a force emanating from the poles of magnets, crystals and perhaps more importantly, human beings.

Reichenbach termed this emanationan ‘odic force’. Unfortunately his research was only to lead to ridicule by the ‘scientific establishment’ of the time. Research was also progressing in America. Edwin Babbit inspired by Reichenbach’s research wrote a classic book ‘The Principles of Light and Colour’. He believed Reichenbach’s discovery followed the samelaws as visible light.

In 1908 Dr Kilner, after studying Reichenbach’s work, believed that the aura might be made visible if viewed through a suitable substance. He discovered dicyanin, a coal tar dye. This dye was found to have an effect upon the eyesight, making people temporarily shortsighted and more readily able to perceive the ultra violet spectrum.

Kilner published his work in ‘The Human Atmosphere’ in 1911. In it he described the various techniques for perceiving the aura which he claimed had inner and outer components. He believed you could accurately diagnose sickness as the aura had marked changes in its appearance indicating the state of health of the individual.

Kilner’s legacy was thought too’way out’ to be considered by the established medical profession, but upon his death it was the Spiritualist movement that recognised and endorsed it. Mr Boddington, a Spiritualist of note, made improvements to Kilner’s viewing screens which comprised a narrow box with a piece of glass containing a solution of the dicanin dye.

Boddington devised goggles fitted with double glasses between which the dye was placed. The goggles were refillable but not very practical. They were patented in 1928 under the name’Aurospecs’ but Boddington later discovered that very satisfactory results could be obtained by using glass of the same spectroscopic shade and tint.

They were known as ‘Kilnerscreens’ and much in demand amongst the Spiritualist movement of the time.

All living creatures posses an aura, although mostly invisible to the naked eyes with practice you can develop a sensitiveness to it. The aura is an electromagnetic field resulting from the fusion of two major energies in man, one being bound to his physical body the other to his soul.

This energy like many others in the human body is vibratory in nature and has polarity within material substances and the space separating these substances. All objects are subjec tto two electrical magnetic currents, one emanating from its chemical makeup(magnetic) and the other its electrical field.

These currents interact with each other and produce a condensed field which is electromagnetic, this field is the aura. Thus, the aura results from the interference between the vibrations composing it and those surrounding it, all of those vibrations having their origin in spirit energy.

This energy is present in the entire universe and inside every material thing; there exists no earthly body,which does not possess radiance around it. All forms of matter, from the smallest grain of sand to planets, possess auras, the intensities of which vary inproportion to their mass and vibratory nature.

Before I continue I wish to state that the aura results from a combination of energies, comprising spirit,vital life force and soul. Its dominant colour is linked both to our general state of health and our degree of spiritual evolution. Lets look briefly atthe auras other components.

All forms of matter living and non- living, owe their existence to a universal energy which we call spirit.Scientists are still unacquainted with this energy and instead of researching it they scatter their efforts by analysing the various forces through which spirit manifests on the material plane. Scientists distinguish four forces in nature: cohesion, adhesion, attraction, and repulsion. Yet, these four forces are only different manifestations of the single energy called spirit

From a mystical standpoint, life,as it is found on earth, is the manifestation of a cosmic energy to which we give the name vital life force or abbreviate it as VLF. This force exists throughout the universe in a latent form.

This force enters the human body at the moment a newborn baby takes its first breath; therefore death occurs at the time of the last breath, for it is then that the vlf leaves the body. Human vitality is closely bound to breathing.

So without going into complex detail we have learned that the human aura is vibratory in nature and is a combination of three energies which are electrical and magnetic in nature. That the aura reflects the individual’s state of health and spiritual development,and that under certain conditions it can be sensed. I recommend if you wish to study this complex but interesting subject further you buy Dr Kilner’s work The Human Atmosphere.

 From a purely mystical point the colours associated with the human Aura are as follows:

Before I finish this discussion of auras I should point out that you often see psychic fairs that offer supposed “Aura Photographs”. These cameras that perpetrate the aura in a colour photo are in fact not true. They work by attaching a sensor to your hands which picks up galvanic skin response. This reading is then processed by a computer programme to represent a colour of what the computer says your Aura may look like. In other words it is a guess or representation achieved by technology.